Adventures And Adversaries
by RockBane
Summary: Second Part of the Chunin Exam. Can Rookie 9 plus Team Guy survive a game world created by Anko? Will Orochimaru finally learn how to achieve true immortality? Find out in Arc 2 of A&A! Partial Xover with Dungeons and Dragons. It has come to an end.
1. Arc 1: Chapter 1

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"Adventures and Adversaries." He muses out loud as he sits under a tree in the park. He found it in the trashed and had taken to because of the images of a group of strange people fighting, some using blades while there seems to be a glowing staff being held by some guy in a dress, against a band of short ugly green monsters wearing rusty armor and welding clubs mostly. He glances about him once more, hoping that nobody noticed him, only to spot somebody ducking behind a tree.

He bites his lower lip for a few seconds before calling out, "Alright, I know that you're there! Either go away or come over here!" Within seconds a girl about his age comes out from behind said tree, she look highly nervous and can't seem to look him in the eye, which means she likely felt guilty for spying on him.

"Well... I guess I know what your punishment is." He says in a solemn voice with his arms crossed over his chest. The girl with white eyes seems to flinch as her eyes widen. "You get to help me go through what's in this box!" He says in a matter of fact tone, making sure to nod at the end.

He turns away from the Hyuga girl after flashing her a small grin, returning his attention to the game that he rescued from the trash. As he opens the lid, the girl settles next to him and she stutters, "I never heard of this game before." He nods in agreement. "Yea, it's kind of sad that somebody would throw away something like this without trying to at least sell it." He admits as he pulls out a folded sheet of cardboard, revealing some cheap metal buildings and six figurines as well as a leather bound book called the Player's Handbook.

As he unfolds the cardboard, the girl with pale eyes takes out one of the figurines and stutters out, "I think this game needs more then two players, Naruto-kun." He blinks, startled by having the -kun at the end of his name. "I guess your right." he admits with a sigh as he stares in disappointment at the other five figurines, after all, he doesn't know anybody that well to invite to play this game with them.

"But that doesn't stop use from reading any of these books." The Hyuga stutters out softly. He perks up and glances to see that the Player's Handbook is in the girl's hands and that there's another book under it that is called Schools of Magic. As he picks up that book, it reveals another one called Races of A&A.

He presses his lips together as he glances between the two books before sighing and focusing his attention on the book called Schools of Magic. He could already see that the Hyuga girl's already reading the Player's Hand book. He opens his book to a random page and starts reading. _Wow!_ Is his thought as he finishes the first page and eagerly starts on the next one.

-)**T**(-

"So, you finished filling out your sheet?" He asks Hinata and she nods as she puts her sheet over his. He then puts the folded cardboard on top of her sheet before putting the top back on the game. "I picked Rakshasa of the Naztharune type, a fighter. How about you, what did you pick Hinata-chan?" He asks and Hinata reddens slightly before she answers.

"I picked Tiefling and for my class, a bard." Hinata stutters softly and he blinks before grinning at her. "Real creative, Hinata-chan!" He says as he picks up the box containing the game. "Well then, see you after school tomorrow! Also, bring any friends that you have so that we can maybe get this game started.

"Hai, hai, Naruto-kun." Hinata says and he holds up his hand once he's got his back to her. "Until then, Hinata-chan!" He says and heads to his apartment to make himself dinner before trying to work on his homework for the Ninja Academy.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

"Where are you going?" He asks his cousin and Hinata pales as she turns to face him. "I promised to meet up with a friend." Hinata stutters horribly and he gives the nine year old girl a look of disapproval. "Then I'll just have to accompany you as you make your apologies to them and then we'll head home." He says and Hinata whitens even more and she gets an expression of a kicked puppy.

In the end, Hinata takes him to the top of the academy. He did notice a pair of nine year olds already up on the roof while a wild looking boy accompanied by an Aburame. But ultimately it's the village parish reading a book entitled Races of A&A. He raises an eyebrow as Hinata makes a beeline towards the blond.

"Naruto-kun." His young cousin calls out in her soft way once she's within a few feet of the reading blond. "Hey Hinata-chan! Hey, great! You brought a friend!" The village parish says on seeing him and he notices that those other nine year olds seem to perk with interest, the wild boy, likely an Inuzuka, and the Aburame move closer to see what it is that the blond has set up in front of him.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage, believe it!" The blond crows at him. "Fat chance of that!" The Inuzuka cries out and the blond turns to give that boy a scratching look. "Come over here and say that!" Naruto growls out, the book in his hands totally forgotten in favor of arguing with the Inuzuka.

He moves forward and gets a better view of the board that sports four cheap metal buildings and three towers, although there seems to be a few buildings and towers to spare. He then glances at a sheet that had Naruto's name on it and skims through, he felt himself growing very interesting in this game as he flips the sheet about in his hand and reads the back of it. It didn't take him long before he's got the Player's Handbook in his hand and is going through it to confirm his thoughts about this game.

_This is very interesting. I guess it couldn't hurt to try one game._ He muses once he's completed reading it. It didn't take long before he's filling out a character sheet of his own, making a Drow Rogue. He did occasionally check the book to make sure he has the kind of opinions he wanted his character to add.

Somebody asks for a book and he pauses to glance at a bored looking nine year old who's with a very large friend. With a shrug, he hands the book to the boy and then moves to get the Race book out of Naruto's hands to read more about Drows. Once he's read it, he alters a few things but in the end, feet confident that he has a very fine character.

By this time, the Inuzuka boy has sat down and began work on creating a Warlock while the bored boy, Shikamaru and the husky boy, Choiji, work on their respective character sheets while the Aburame merely reads the book called Schools of Magic.

And so, Shikamaru created a Half-Elf cleric, Choji created a Half-Orc monk, and the Inuzuka boy named Kiba created a Dire Werewolf warlock. "Alright then, now we just need to put those figurines on the board." Naruto says and Hinata takes the figurines to place on the board.

Once the figurines were on the board, something happens. Wind swirls about them and within seconds, the world blurs until his vision clears. He tries activating his bloodline limit only to find he no longer has chakra to command. "Freaky! I've got a head full of black fur!" He hears a familiar voice cries out and he turns around to find that Naruto has very much changed as had the four members of the party.

Naruto now stands close to seven feet in height and now looks decisively tiger like in appearance dressed in ruined purple silk cloths with a pair of sleek blades resting on his back. Naruto's grins toothily as he studies his new appearance and then the village parish turns to give the rest of them a look while he turns to study Kiba, who looks pretty much like normal with the exception of being older and dressed in ratty looking black robe with a wizened staff that seems to be tipped with carved bone if he's to be any judge of such things.

The tallest member of their party is Choji who tops seven feet in height and seems less husky, more muscular looking. Choji wears a dirty white gi that covers most of his upper body and his skin tone has a green tint to it. It didn't come to any surprise that Choji lacks a weapon since according to the Player's Handbook, Monks were hand to hand fighters that use Ki to power their attacks.

He avoids looking at his cousin, highly reluctant to acknowledge the changes in both her and himself, and so, he studies Shikamaru the Half-Elf cleric who will likely be their primary healer. Shikamaru's black hair hands in a loose pony tail and allows him to see his pointed ears. Like all of them, Shikamaru looks very similar to what he previous looks like but older. Wearing dirty green robe with what appears to be a club tipped with metal about his belt with a ratty piece of leather holding a talisman to his patron god.

Then, finally, he examines his darken skin, his own ratty leather armor and notices a dagger strapped to his hip. Taking it out, he begins to polish the blade until it reflects his face. He notes the white hair and silvery blue eyes, his facial features look more refined, likely due to his increase of age. He turns his head slightly and studies his ears, they were more define then Shikamaru's ears.

As he puts the dagger back into its sheath, he turns to look at his cousin, trying to brace himself but still found himself at a lost as he studies her much more paler skin, horns, whip tail, complete with yellow eyes with red irises while a hint of yellow seems to come out of her mouth or nose whenever she exhales. "What race did you pick?" He asks as he tries not to look below Hinata's neck. "Tiefling and a bard for my class." Hinata says.

"What are those?" Kiba asks and they turn to find themselves under attack. "Goblins!" He hears Naruto cry out as he draws out his dagger once more while Kiba barks out without haste as the Warlock moves , "_Ixen'Majak_!" A ball of fire appears and launches itself at one of the goblins, causing it to yelp in pain.

He wills himself to fade into the background as the other members of the party charge the ugly green creature, already distracting them from Kiba and himself. And so, he moves behind on of the creatures and stabs it in the neck with his small dagger before moving to stab another in the neck.

By the end, there were eleven dead Goblins, he had killed two and aided in the killing of a third before finding himself moving to defend Kiba, leaving the others to take of the other eight. As Naruto looks about, he shrugs before bending over and looting the dead Goblins. Oddly enough, he felt the urge to join Naruto in doing so but asks, "And why are you looting them? It's not like they're carrying anything important." He says.

"True, but we could use the gold and sell the items at the nearest village." Naruto points out, calling to mind what he read in the Player's Handbook. "Well, move aside, I want my share of gold." Kiba says and with a shrug, he follows after the Inuzuka, out of the corner of his eye, he watches Shikamaru check Hinata and Choji over.

_Well, this will prove to be very interesting, won't it?_ He muses softly to himself as he pockets a few old rings as well as gold coin from one of the dead Goblins before moving onto the next.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	2. Arc 1: Chapter 2

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Shino**

_Well, that's certainly unexpected._ He thinks as he watches as the six kids before him get pulled into the game. As he takes a few steps towards the game board, he pierce down to find that the figurines had taken the appearance of said kids, although one of them seems to be a humanoid black cat. He also notes a group of eleven tiny figurines that appear to be moving towards the group.

As he tries to get a better look without getting too close to the game board, after all, it had drawn in those six, it could easily draw him in if he's not careful, trying to get a better look at them, he nods thoughtfully as he notices their altered but clearly healthy states. As he tries to think of what to do next, he watches as those eleven figurines finally engage the group of six. A battle occurs and he watches with a critical eye, he frowns as he realizes that none of them were using jutsus and they seem to know how to handle their weapons as well.

As the number of small figurines are cut down, he turns his attention to studying the rest of the board, curious if there were any other changes beyond the ones made to those six kids. It wasn't long before he takes note of another group to the north who's figurines were much larger then the previous ones that the party had engaged in battle with, were slowly advancing south to their position. There was another group to the southeast, although this group seems to be heading east towards some mountains, it seems unlikely that the six kids will encounter that group unless they head northeast at a faster rate then that group.

As he turns his attention to said group once more and the portion of the map that they're heading in, he frowns slightly as he notices another, much larger, party of tiny figurines marching towards them. As he glances at the box in search for answers, he spots a new book resting in the lower part of the box called So Your Friends are in the Game, Here's how you can Help!

Glances at the party and then back at the book, with a sigh, he walks over and picks up the book so that he can start reading it. _Hopefully this will answer some of my questions._ He muses to himself, trusting the group to be able to defend themselves from the approaching party of thirteen tiny figurines while he skims through this new book.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"Ok, this is the second party of Goblins we've encountered, any ideas on why this is happening?" Kiba asks while in his huge hybrid form, teeth bared and his staff seems to be glowing mightily as Kiba addresses the whole group now that they're done looting the dead Goblins. They were currently resting, taking a break after their latest encounter.

He feels the others shift their focus from Kiba to him. He sighs as he says, "Well don't look at me, I'm just as unsure as you guys are about this! It's not like we're about to get some help but up there." As he says the last part, he waves the back of his right hand up at the sky.

**"Actually, I believe it's because you're close to their spawning hut."** A familiar voice seems to boom from above them. "Shino!" Kiba cries out as the warlock turns to stare at the sky above them. "..." He glances up wordlessly up at the giant head that's hovering above them. "Can you get us out of here?" Kiba calls out and Shino answers, **"Sadly but no, I can't. If anybody disturbs the game board, they shall be sucked in and made into a character as well."**

As Shino pushes up his glasses, he continues on, **"According to this book that showed up in the game box after you entered into this game, to get out of it you have to locate the sceptre that's located in one of the keeps and towers of this game board."** Shino takes a pause, allowing for them to absorb this fact. Then Shino continues on, **"Although according to this book, all the gold you collect will come with you out of the game and you shall also be keeping any skills and spells that you learn as you level up."**

"Well then, just how many keeps and towers are there on this map?" Neji asks. "I put out four Keeps and three towers." He answers as he recalls how hard it had been for him to decide how many keeps and towers he wanted on the map since he was only allowed seven but the minimum of three.

"And you couldn't set up one?!" Kiba snarls and he hisses at the warlock. "For you information, you can only have up two three buildings during any one game!" He growls as he gets to his feet, his twin swords in his hands as he glares spitefully at Kiba, not liking the warlock's tone at all.

"Enough, you two! We need to conserve our energy, not spend it on fighting among ourselves!" Neji snaps and as they glower at each other, he puts his swords back into their sheaths and sits down, making sure not to turn and look at Kiba. "Troublesome." Shikamaru mutters and Neji adds, "Indeed."

**"Yes well, I believe we need to create a list of what you need to accomplish in order to return home. After all, I get the feeling this will take longer then expected."** Shino says as he pushes his sunglasses back up. "Well, we need to stop the attacking parties of Goblins, so I say we head to this spawning hut and take it out." Hinata stutters out and Choji seconds it as does Shikamaru since their cleric nods thoughtfully.

After a few seconds of quiet, Shikamaru sighs and begins to ask Shino a bunch of questions with Neji adding his two cents here and there. In the end, he got up and began to look for something for them to eat since they didn't have much for rations. "I'm going to try and hunt around for eatable things." He says and Kiba gets to his feet as does Hinata. "We'll come along, we could use some fire wood." Hinata stutters and he gives her a tiny smile as he nods in agreement. "Sure."

"I wonder if they have deer about here. I won't mind meat for dinner." Kiba says and Choji waves as he calls out, "I'll stay here and set up a spot for a camp fire." He flashes a smile at the monk before heading into the underbrush with Kiba and Hinata trailing behind.

-)**T**(-

It hadn't been that hard to get directions from a Goblin, after all, they encountered another party of them by dawn the next day. His twin swords had broken during the assault but then, they had been pretty rusty, he's just glad he managed to find suitable replacements, true, they didn't match like his previous swords but he's fairly sure when they come across a town, he'd be able to get a matching set then, either by paying for them or buy commissioning a blacksmith to do so.

Although he wasn't the only one using new items, Neji managed to find a nicer dagger as well as better shoes. Shikamaru now sports a pair of slightly tarnished copper wrist braces while Hinata is using a new sword as well as picked up a flute from somewhere. Kiba now wears a thin brass bracelet with an cracked stone in it on his left wrist while Choji now sports a dirty, blooding cap on his head, covering what little remains of his hair, one of the Goblins did managed to set his hair on fire and although Shikamaru managed to heal most of the damage, it didn't cause the hair to grow back.

And so they come across the Goblin camp and after a bit of scouting, they managed to not only find living captives but said spawning hut, after all, watching a Goblin come out of it every fifteen seconds pretty much clued them in that there was something to said hut. "So, are we going to save the captives before, during, or after we go for the hut?" Kiba wonders softly as they watch the dirty camp from a overhang.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru mutters softly but Choji says, "But we could learn things from the living then from the dead, Shikamaru." Hinata seems to agree with Choji even though she hasn't said anything. "Well, if we do need to split up, the more heavy hitters of us can take on the hut while the other three go for the captives." Neji muses and he nods in agreement. "Fine, so then, Choji, Naruto, and Hinata take on the hut while Kiba, Neji, and I go after the captive. Sound already to you?" Shikamaru asks with a sigh. They chimed in their agreement and so, he heads off with Choji and Hinata to sneak into camp to destroy the spawning hut.

"What's the signal?" Choji asks and he answers, "We wait for them to start their task and then start ours. I mean, it won't take long before the Goblins focus on guarding the hut once our assault begins." He hopes his reasoning was sound but somebody had to act like they know what they're doing, so what if it's him?

"Sounds ok." Hinata says softly and Choji hums in agreement. It took some minutes but they did finally find a spot and they settled down to wait. After a few minutes ticked by, something finally happened. Within seconds of the Goblins abandoning their posts, they charge forward, Hinata and himself had their weapons drawn. They cut down a few of the slower Goblins as they move through the village.

By the time they were at the hut, Choji had managed to find and grab a lit torch. As the building gets set on fire, Hinata and himself moved away from Choji and each other so that they can take up defensive positions about the hut to fend off any Goblin attempts to put out the fire. As the hut burns, becoming a beacon that something was wrong about the position of the spawning hut, more and more Goblins come charging towards them, anger burning in their beady little eyes with their tiny fanged teeth bared.

Slowly but surely, the number of Goblins began to thin out and he managed to find time to drink one of his healing potions to make him shrug off any pain from his injuries which consists of minor cuts and bruises. The hut is finally a smoldering ruin with living ash glowing ever so often when the window breaths upon them. "What a rush!" Choji declares, he turns and raises an eyebrow at the monk who's covered in a lot of blood, likely the Goblins then his own.

"Ok..." He says, he swears there seems to be a big flame surrounding Choji's frame as well as minor flames coming out of his eyes. He glances nervously at Hinata as she has a nervous smile on her face with a hint of worry in her eyes. "Ok, I'll leave the looting to you guys. I'm going to check up with the other half of our party." He says and Hinata nods in agreement before she bends down to begin looting from the Goblins they killed as they waited for the fire to do it's job.

It didn't take long to find Kiba, Neji, and Shikamaru, they were surrounded by a bunch of starved looking people, some were humans while others were a range of races with the most of them being Halflings to a single full-blooded Elf. "So, things worked out on your end, huh?" He asks and Kiba gives him a wolfy grin as Kiba takes his time strutting over to him, he did notice how many of the group seem to back away from the sight of him.

"They went fine. A few fire ball, slit throats and everything was hunky dory." Kiba boasts and he grins toothily in response to Kiba's own grin. "Oh yea? One minor fire and the spawning hut is nothing but ashes to be blown about by the wind." He states.

"So, you guys get any Intel from them?" He asks, giving the freed captives a glance. "Not much." Kiba says with a sigh and with a shrug he turns around. "Well, I'm going to loot the huts. I might find a map or something useful." He says and Kiba shrugs. "Well then, good luck to you." Kiba says with a shrug, walking back to a meditating Shikamaru and a coin counting Neji.

And so, he rummages through the various huts that help make up the village. He found small bags filled with gold, gems, jewelry, bottles of beer and rum, and then to his delight, a few chests filled with good cloths, weapons, and armor. It wasn't long before he's exchanging his dirty, bloody silks for clean silk cloths, although they didn't match, the shirt being a Royal red in color while the pants being a vibrant teal. It wasn't long before he empties what's within the chests into his seemingly small and yet empty pouch.

He'll wait until later to share what's in the chest as he then continues on to a hut he has yet to go through since it lacks the X on the door. Once he slashes the X into the door, he opens the door and pauses as he glances about the interior of this hut. It differs greatly from the other huts since there seems to be a lot of herbs hanging from strings as well as odd leather made decorations, a few featured animal bones and skulls while there is a very decorative human skull that somebody had taken a lot of time and care to crave little symbols on it.

The fur on the back of his neck raises the longer he looks at the human skull. He forces himself to look away, glancing down at the central pit, noting a fire pit at the center of the hut. He takes a few steps into the hut, his eyes going towards the rack filled with different kinds of staffs, some made out of wood, others out of some type of metal, with some out of some kind of white material that seems to be bone. Once more the fur on the back of his neck raises and he begins to think that, perhaps, he should go get the others so they can see what's within this hut.

_"Are you going to let me out or not?"_ He hears a scratching voice says and he almost jumps up before remembering that he'd likely beam himself on the roof. "Who's there?" He snarls and he then hears something bang. As he turns to look in the direction of the banging, he takes a few steps more into the hut until he can see a small little beast about the size of a cat with wings similar to a butterfly. It's muzzle seems to be bound by a thin bit of metal.

As he moves to get a closer look, he notices that in this low light, the creature seems to be scaly who's colors look a bit dull, reflecting the feeling of this hut. "What are you? You look like a dragon but you aren't." He says softly. The lizard like being raises its head and studies him with its dull green gem like eyes. _"I'm a Fairy Dragon."_ The self proclaimed Fairy Dragon says, life returning to its green gem like eyes.

"What are you doing in there?" He asks as he takes one of his swords and begins to try and open the lightly tarnished cage door. _"They hired an incompetent wizard to summon a fiend from another plane. He summoned me instead and he soon found himself a meal for the Goblins while the Goblins tried to figure out what to do with me, like selling me or eating me."_ The Fairy Dragon says in a dry tone, the little dragon's colors seem to be recovering as the cage door finally gives, allowing the little beast out of the cage.

It didn't take much to destroy the thin metal about the little guys muzzle. "Thanks!" The little cat size lizard like beast says and it wasn't long before the little dragon begins to flutter about the hut. He watches in amusement as the dragon drinks a heal potion from a satchel. "Well, I'm going to go find my friends since I think I know somebody who'd like to exchange his staff for one of those." He tells the little Dragon who's looking heather by the minutes. "Sure! I'll stay here and guard the hut until you return, catman!" The Dragon chirps.

"The name's Naruto." He says and the Dragon calls out, "I'm Dart!" He holds up his hand as he walks out of the door, he slices a vertical line down the middle of the X, differing it so that he can find it again.

It didn't take him long before he finds the rest of his group. "Hey guys! I found something I think you want to take a look at!" He says as he jogs close to them, it seems that the previous captives were heading away from this minor group of huts that had made up the Goblin village. "Does it involve cloths by chance?" Kiba remarks. "Huh?" He says in confusion before he remembers his new set of cloths.

"Oh! No, not that, I found a hut that has a lot of magic in it. They even have some staffs that Kiba can pick from." He says and with seconds, Kiba's racing pass him, heading in the direction he came from. "Troublesome." Shikamaru says with a sigh as the Cleric gets to his feet while Choji, Hinata, and Neji were already walking towards him.

It didn't take long before they find Kiba giving them impatient looks, it seems that Kiba can't figure out which hut he's talking about. It didn't take long to arrive at the hut that he left Dart in. "Hey Dart! I brought my friends." He calls out and within seconds, the little Dragon comes zooming out of the hut, eager to take a look at his friends.

"Hello!" Dart says and the others had looks of disbelief at the little Dragon. "Dart here is a Fairy Dragon. Dart, these are my friends, the warlock is Kiba, the Half-Orc is Choji, the Drow is Neji, the Half-Elf is Shikamaru, and finally, our bard is Hinata." He says and Dart chirps, "Nice to meet you!"

"And you, Dart." Hinata says nervously and Dart gives Hinata a wide, happy grin. Kiba and Neji make their way into the hut with Shikamaru muttering, "Troublesome." Under his breath. Dart glances over a Choji and the monk says, "I wouldn't fit."

"Ah." Dart says and he says to Dart, "Well, I don't suppose you want to hang about, after all, you do want to go home, don't you?" Dart puffs out his little chest as he answers, "Of course I do, but I owe you for setting me free and for taking that bit of wire off of my muzzle. So until I pay you back, I'm traveling with you."

"I'm sure you're welcome to accompany us, although we're currently on a question looking for the Specter of Ending. It's in one of the local keeps or towers." Hinata says with a bit of a stutter. "Interesting." Dart muses before the little Dragon darts after a fly, eating it with a single gulp. "I guess you're hungry." He muses and Dart replies, "Of course! Its been two weeks since I had a meal!"

"Why don't you go off and hunt for something more filling then a fly? I'm sure you'll be able to catch up with us by evening. That will also give you time to stretch your wings too." He suggests and bits of fire works seem to erupt in the air above them as Dart does cartwheels and barrel rolls in the air. It took him a moment to realize that those fire works are only illusions, illusions that seem to come from Dart.

"See you then, Naruto sir!" With that, Dart seems to vanish in thin air, taking the fire work display with him. "He's an energetic fellow despite being little, huh?" Choji muses and Hinata nods in agreement.

It wasn't too long before Neji is dragging Kiba out of the hut, it seems that Kiba fainted clutching one of the staffs that seems to be made out of bone. It didn't take long before Shikamaru exits out behind them. "So many... I must have them!" Kiba mutters with a dreamy look on his face.

"I see the little Dragon took off." Neji notes. "He'll be back by evening, I told him he can go off to get a meal as well as to stretch his wings." He tells Neji and Shikamaru. "Troublesome, but we could us the help." Shikamaru says.

"Oh yea! I found a bunch of chests filled with cloths, armor, and weapons!" He says after a few minutes of silence. It didn't take long before he's pulling out said cloths, causing the others to circle about him with interest. "I call dibs on the silk ebony robe!" Kiba cries as the Dire Werewolf snatches said robe from the pile.

It wasn't long before the others begin to pick through the pile off cloths before heading off to one of the huts to change, leaving him to repack said items back into his pouch. He can't help but be amused by recent events and he can't help but feel glad he picked this game out of the trash, after all, he's having a good time, it's just too bad that they have seven places to search through, or if they get luck, less then that.

_I wonder where Shino is. . ._ He muses as he waits for the others to come back in their new cloths.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	3. Arc 1: Chapter 3

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Shino**

He waits for his father and the Third's reaction after explaining and showing them what has happened to the heiress of the Hyuga clan as well as the other five students. Although the most worrying thing is how the woman Jonin chuckles as she watches the party of six attack the Goblin village and likely watches as they loot the corpses of their enemies.

"I really need to get myself a game like this!" The Jonin says and Hinata's father sends Anko a disapproving look before returning to reading the Player's Handbook. He did worry slightly that Anko might disrupt the game board but so far, she's managed to watch from the opposite side of where his father and the Third Hokage were, bended down, watching what's happening with said party of students.

"It would seem that we can't safely move the game, not when that might be interpreted as disturbing the game. Nor can we make public where they are. I'll just have to figure out a way to reassure the other clan heads about where they are." The Third Hokage says at last and his father says, "I believe Shino can continue to observe what's going on with them and send us updates, that way fewer people become aware of this situation."

"I won't mind helping him, after all, he does have to attend classes, so he can't always be here." Anko says and while he didn't particularly like that idea, he can see the logic of having more then one person standing guard over the game board. It did disturb him slightly at how the Jonin seems to enjoy the struggle the party of six were going through but knew that they did need somebody a great deal more powerful then an Academy student to watch over the lives of six ninja students.

"I hope you don't mind if I take some of these manuals with me. I wish to get a better understanding of what abilities my heir and nephew will return with." Hiashi Hyuga says as he bends over to pick up the other manuals when nobody opposed the request.

And so, except for Anko and himself, the others departed. It seems that come tomorrow, he'll be attending classes, leaving Anko alone with the game board. He tries to push away his doubts about having the Jonin with him, after all, he trusts that Lord Hokage's confidence in having her help guard the game.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

As they pant, they had run into a group of human bandits with a evil Cleric, they soon discovered that they were harder to kill then the Goblins they fought the previous day, when they encountered, hopefully, the last patrol of Goblins that had been out scouting during their assault on their village. Although the loot they got off of the bandits did prove to be of better quality then anything they got from the Goblins.

"Seventeen bandits and one evil Cleric. I wonder if we're going to be encountering a human settlement soon." He muses and Shikamaru says, "I'm a bit worried about what could have pushed them south. After all, we had managed to question the Cleric before she died." He sighs but has to agree, the Cleric had died before telling them what exactly had pushed them out of their keep, a keep that they need to search through.

"It helped having Dart create those illusions to distract their assault." Choji muses and he grunts in agreement, glancing to the little Dragon that seems to be content resting on Hinata's shoulders as she strokes Dart's head. "True, it's good to have somebody about who can cast illusions to help mask our position and traps." Shikamaru says in a bore tone while staring up at the sky, likely watching the clouds over head.

"Where's Naruto and Kiba?" Choji wonders as the tall monk glances about the forest, trying to spot the pair. "Hunting likely." He answers and Hinata comes walking up to them. "Who's hunting?" His cousin asks softly, with only a hint of a stutter. He had noted a change in his cousin, during the last four days, she's grown more confident and getting more graceful at fighting as well, her singing voice wasn't bad either and her skill with the flute has been improving as well.

But then, bards did have musical talent or else they wouldn't be capable of using their magic. Although she's a long way off from acting like a true Hyuga and even then, she may never truly act as one since it seems to go against her nature. He can't help but felt a tiny bit guilty about never getting to know her as well as he should but then, he had just wanted to see her with hate filled eyes, not want to see the gentle soul that's being pressed on all fronts to go against her nature.

"Kiba and Naruto are, well, we they they are." Choji says and he nods in agreement. "I think Naruto went to the river to try and bath. Kiba headed off to take a look for a secure camp site." Hinata tells them and sighs. "Which way did Kiba go?" He asks and Hinata points northwest.

With that, he heads off to make sure that nothing's wrong with their warlock. It didn't take long before he picks up Kiba's trail, after all, it seems that Kiba transformed into his beast form to scout about, all he needed to do was follow the tracks. He pauses as he arrives in an area that doesn't have bird song. He wills himself to fade into the background and waits for something to reveal itself. It wasn't long before he spots Kiba coming towards him in a stiff legged gate.

Kiba growls as his fur bristles and within seconds, the monstrous wolf that was Kiba launches itself into a bush. Within seconds, there's a painful yelp and soon four strange looking monsters charge at where Kiba had vanished into and with a mental sigh, he moves behind one of them, his dagger managing to slice into the being's back since the scaly rat looking beast seems to sense he was there.

Biting back a growl, he soon found himself fighting off two of these scaly rat things while Kiba transforms into his hybrid form, taking out two by slamming two into each other. Their neck snapping at how roughly Kiba handles them. With a snarl, Kiba launches himself at one of the two fighting him. He manages to kill the one fleeing by throwing his dagger, it entered into the being's neck, more then likely coming out of the front of the throat.

"And why did you come in this direction if you knew they were here?" He asks Kiba and the Dire Werewolf answers, "Anko mentioned twenty-three figures in this area, so I wanted to scout around to see where the remaining five were." He presses his lips together as he stalks up to the fallen being and pulls his dagger out of the corpse. "I see." He says as he bends down to first wipe the blood off of his dagger on the back of the scaly creature's back and then begins to loot said corpse.

"I wonder what these things are." He muses and Kiba get a thoughtfully look on his face. "We could always ask Shino or Anko when they decide to lean down to talk with us. They can look it up in that Race book." Kiba answers and he nods in agreement, "For once, you have a good idea." "Hey!" Kiba yelps after a few minutes.

"Hey, you ever notice that your personal gold isn't as large as it should be considering you finish looting a corpse?" Kiba asks as they head back to the others. He frowns as he nods in agreement. "I believe this is what the books mean by the party sharing the gold, it doesn't matter who pockets the gold, it gets divided six ways automatically." He admits and Kiba hums thoughtfully.

"Well, at least it doesn't do so with the items we loot." Kiba says and he nods in agreement. "True or else all those cloths that Naruto looted at the Goblin village would have found their way into our bags." He remarks and Kiba chuckles in agreement.

"Look at what Naruto caught!" Dart says as the Fairy Dragon suddenly appearing before them. Within seconds, Dart moves and they spot the three large fish, each seems to be slightly longer then Dart, but not by much. "They're pretty large." Kiba muses before saying, "Also, how original, a cat catches a bunch of fish."

Naruto and Dart glare at the Dire Werewolf as Naruto remarks, "Says the dog with a bone staff." Kiba snarls while the taller Naruto grins toothily as Hinata takes the fish from Naruto. "So, how did your scouting mission go, Kiba?" Choji asks while Naruto moves to help Hinata gut the fish.

Shikamaru hadn't moved since he left while Choji seemed to have piled the bodies of the dead bandits and enemy Cleric off to the side, he ignores them as he moves to sit under the tree closest to Shikamaru. "Well, I found five ratty looking scaly beings and with Neji's help, we killed them, looted them too, then came back here." Kiba reports.

"Sounds like you encountered Kobolds." Naruto muses as they finish gutting the three fish. "Kobolds?" Kiba echos and the feline fighter nods in agreement. "About three feet in height, scaly skin, lizard like heads, and tails. Yippy voices." Naruto says and he thinks about it as he nods slowly, that did sound a bit like the creatures they encountered. "They like setting up ambushes, I won't be surprised if the bandits we encountered likely had a few run ins with them, that's likely how they lost a lot of their number." Naruto muses thoughtfully and then frowns.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asks softly, her voice concerned. "It's just that... Kobolds often live in dark places, which could mean there's a cave near by, maybe they're mining in this area. Which might mean that the bandits tried to raid their camp." Naruto says with a frown and he raises an eyebrow. "Interesting, so there must be a mine here a bouts." He muses and Naruto nods.

"You know, that could explain why the Goblins had so much stuff laying about their huts. They had some kind of trade agreement with these Kobolds." Choji muses and Hinata frowns as she says, "Well then, who would buy that stuff from the Goblins?"

"They might have been hoarding it all to assemble an army." Choji muses. "Anyway, I think these fish can hold out for a while longer, we should find a more secure area." Shikamaru says as he gets to his feet, brushing off dirt, leaves, and other bits of tiny stuff. "Sounds good." Kiba mutters and it wasn't long before they're on their way, leaving a pile of dead bandits behind them.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	4. Arc 1: Chapter 4

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"Are you sure he can keep himself out of trouble?" Kiba asks him while Dart seems to fade from their view, likely casting an illusion that would hide him from view as Dart heads off to scout the keep. "Why shouldn't he be able to stay out of trouble, dog breath? He's not a baby, Kiba, he's a fully grown Fairy Dragon." He tells Kiba with his arms crossed over his chest, daring Kiba to say another word on the matter.

"Troublesome. Dart is small and agile, it helps that he's a natural illusionist. True, his attention span isn't the greatest but it's good enough for this mission. Unless you want to try your hand at demon summoning and send whatever you manage to summon into the keep to scout it out for us?" Shikamaru says and he grins slightly while Kiba goes a bit pale.

"He has a point, Kiba. At the moment, Naruto's the only one that managed to recruit additional members to our group. True, Dart might not be the best fighter but size isn't everything." Neji points out. "It's not as if we've come across many places to recruit from." Kiba mutters and he shrugs.

"That's not really any of our concern. We can't stick around here just to find some village or city to gather more members, that won't get us home any faster. Our parents, friends, and clans are likely worried about us." Neji reminds Kiba and with a sigh, Kiba loses that argument.

"Just how many additional party members can each of use recruit?" Choji asks with a slight frown. "I believe the stat Charisma measures it as well as determines our combined physical attractiveness, persuasiveness, and personal magnetism." Neji says in a matter of fact way.

_Likely memorized that from the Player's Handbook._ He muses thoughtfully and soon, silence reigns among them as they wait for Dart to return.

)**-o-**(

**Dart**

As he flies towards the outer wall of the keep, he spots packs of Hell Hounds roaming about the ground below him. He manages to spot a few spider webs that were likely spun by one of the larger breeds of spiders as he comes to rest on a windowsill. It didn't take him long before he spots said spider too.

As he perches there, he glances about the courtyard, spotting pairs of Gnoll giggling every so often as they chatter to each other in soft tones. He takes note of the crossbows hanging at their sides as well as arrows to load onto said crossbows. Giving himself a shake, he carefully turns to face into the hallway. Crawly through the broken window and trying not to touch the web, he then takes to the air, flying higher into the air as he heads to the left.

He manages to evade the webs that were made by the ceiling of the hall. He keeps glancing about for spiders since he doesn't want to run into any of them, after all, they were, 'Troublesome.' He mentally giggles at using Shikamaru's favorite word. He takes to the rafters when he spots a large Gnoll that smell of rot, he watches said robed Gnoll walk under him.

Within seconds, he's following the berobed Gnoll. Careful to keep the Gnoll in his sight but also keeping an eye out for previously mentioned spiders and their webs. It didn't take long before the Gnoll takes him deeper and deeper into the keep, pass summon fiends from hell planes, skeleton guards, and Gnoll patrols heading out into the courtyard. He's just glad that neither of the skeletons and the fiends had glanced up or else his cover would be blown since it's more then likely they would see through his low level illusion.

Finally, this berobed Gnoll stops before a large door and knocks. Although muffled, he could hear what is said in common, "Come in, Tiviv." The Gnoll he's been trailing opens the door but he didn't go in, not when he can feel the magic that hangs about within the room. If he went in there, he'd be spotted within seconds. He moves to the top of the door and moves the side of his head between the stone and the wood, waiting for them to speak and hoping that whatever is said would be interesting.

"Any word of what where the survivors are headed?" Tiviv asks in common, which means that whoever is in charge of this army wasn't a Gnoll, likely some kind of wizard since he spotted fiends and skeletons about the keep. "They ran a foul of a party of Kobolds from the local mine. My spy abandoned them as the Kobolds gave chase as they fled from their mines. A minor check with my orb shows that the Kobolds were feasting on their flesh two days after the botched raid." The voice says with disdain.

"Mistress wishes to know when the next set of wards will be set up." Tiviv says, revealing that neither of the pair were in charge of this crew. "Next week the moons will be in position, now leave me, I have to prepare to summon something more powerful then these common fiends." The sorcerer says in a dismissive manner. He moves more upwards and within seconds, the door opens and Tiviv steps out, the Gnoll mutters under his breath as he stalks away.

With a sigh, Dart knew that he better get back to Naruto and the others. Hopefully with this information, they'll make an informed decision about exploring this keep or not.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

With Dart hugging his neck with his tail, he moves silently through the clearing, glancing about for any signs of Hell Hounds. Behind him, the others tried to move as silently as he did, but it seems that feline grace continues to go unmatched, something which makes him feel very smug about. His ears flicker to the sides as they scan about the area as he pauses.

He's willing to admit that it had, at first, felt odd having his ears move independently on top of his head but he's grown use to it, after all, its his fault that caused him to pick a race that had such ears to begin with. With his two swords in his hand, he's glad that neither of them were very polished since they didn't reflect the moonlight.

As he waits for a few minutes for the others to caught up, he reflects about the changes to his attire. He now sports about his wrists were dull bronze protectors with a purple stone at the center of a sun design and to protect his legs were dark brown leather shin guards. Around his neck, hanging from a leather thong was a pendent that featured a bit of amber with a small brass dragon holding said piece of amber. He also now has a better belt, his previous one finally snapped as he tried to wrestle it from Dart's grasp.

Sadly, he hasn't found any finer cloths beyond what he's wearing so he's still got the same shirt and pants that he exited out of the Goblin camp with. He hopes that he'll be able to find a larger amount of silk cloths so he has a wider selection of cloths to chose from as they continue with their mission. He frowns slightly as he realizes that before he found himself in this game, he never really cared much about the quality of his cloths or if they matched.

_But then, didn't the book mention that Rakshasa were picky about what they wore. They want the highest and finest quality of clothing, which must mean they've got some kind of fashion sense._ He muses before he refocuses on walking forward once more. He freezes as something catches his eye.

"Dart . . ." He says softly and the emerald peacock Fairy dragon with navy blue eyes hums softly after glancing in the direction that he's staring in. Within seconds, Dart's weight vanishes from his shoulder, taking to the air, flying towards Shikamaru.

He didn't turn to see what Shikamaru and them were doing, too intent on staring at the slowly moving shape that's coming towards him. Briefly he considers if he should try transforming into a Gnoll but he hadn't laid eyes on one so he's unsure if he'd be able to transform into one, after all, his race can shape-shift calling the ability Change Shape. _Hmmm, I wonder if I shouldn't use Magical Missile..._ He muses to himself but then an arrow whizzes through the air and a jet of flames destroys it.

With that done and as the pack of Hell Hounds charge in, he hears Kiba use his ice spells while he casts Mage Armor around himself before charging to meet the closest Hell Hound, he's slightly shocked to see two heads instead of one, but he gets over it as he slashes at one of the heads while the other growls before snapping, causing drool to fly about. He tries to stab at that head with his other sword.

He hisses as he's forced to back up as the two headed hound lunges forward, he's privately glad that it's not using his fire breath as he parries their heads, causing minor cuts on their foreheads to appear. This causes the hound to back up slightly, tensing, likely ready to lunge forward once more, but he moves in, trying to stab them in the main body, the spot between the two head. The attack hits since at that moment, the Hell Hound tries to leap at him, causing the sword to drive deeper into the body as well as causing him to lose grip of his sword.

He hurriedly backs away from the hound as the beast yowls in pain. Not wanting to get close, he launches a Magic Missile at the beast, causing the hound to fall to the ground. He rushes in and manages to hack one of the heads off with three blows. He quickly grabs a hold of his other sword, pulling forcefully out of the main body before moving to deal with the remaining head.

Once that's done, he turns to help the rest of the group who were having some troubles dealing with the five Hell Hounds attacking them, that seem to be keeping them in a tight group which makes it hard for them to dodge. It helps that none of the hounds were using their magical breath but then, that's likely because they didn't want to harm each other. He manages to dispatch one of the five Hell Hounds by sneaking up behind it, it had been to busy tensing for a lunge which allow him to leap onto its back, digging his swords into the upper back.

As the Hell Hound goes down, it's friends growl while one of them moves to deal with him, this pausing in their attack proves fatal as it gives his friends time to mobilize. Hinata casts Lesser Confusion on one of the Hell Hounds while Kiba seems to drain the same one of something, he's not sure what though. Choji and Shikamaru team up to kill another and Neji seems to appear out of thin air behind the one likely getting ready to fry him with its twin fiery breaths.

As he gets off the Hell Hound, pulling his swords out of it, he quickly beheads the Hell Hound that Neji attack before the beast turns to deal with the Rogue. The last Hell Hound didn't stand much of a chance as they all attacked it together even though it did manage to use its fire breath on Kiba, no real harm done beyond the fact that Kiba's hair suffered and had fallen out, causing the Dire Werewolf to grumble darkly about never wanting one as a pet, ever.

As Shikamaru and Hinata moves between them casting Cure and any other healing spell they know, he takes time wiping the blood from his swords by wiping them on one of the fallen Hell Hounds before taking a rag from his pouch to finish the job. Dart settles down on his shoulders once more after Shikamaru helps him feel a bit better and more energetic. "Well, one pack down." Dart muses and he nods his head in agreement while Kiba gives them both a scratching look.

"Yes, well, let's head off, who knows when something will come to investigate this area." Neji says as the Drow moves to take point. He moves to fall a few steps behind Neji while the others fall in behind him.

_Well, at least nobody died._ He muses to himself as they head in the direction of the gate that will take them inside of the outer wall, into the courtyard filled with Gnolls with crossbows. _Whatever they are, I'm sure Neji will be happy to steal one so he can do range attacks._ He muses, after all, Neji kind of ran out of throwing daggers a while back. It didn't help that they were rusty to begin with and made out of copper, not the most durable of metals too.

-)**T**(-

"I have a plan on how to get pass the Gnoll guards." Shikamaru says from their position behind some cover. "Oh?" Neji says and Shikamaru sighs, muttering his favorite phase under his breath before he continues on, outlining his plan. "You said that Rakshasa can change their shape into any Humanoid form, right?" He nods.

"Well then, I believe Gnolls are Humanoids so you should be able to transform into one. We also need you to alter your clothing, weapons to match the type these Gnolls seem to have about them. You should have some in your pouch." Shikamaru says and he frowns. "Ok, once I do that, do you really thing they'll allow me to just walk pass?" He asks and Shikamaru sighs.

"You'll have a 'prisoner' to take inside. Once you're behind them, you can attack them before they can ring that bell there." Shikamaru says and Kiba asks, "And just who will he take with him to act like his prisoner?"

Shikamaru sighs and glances at Hinata, who seems to sigh while Kiba clearly wants to argue about putting Hinata in such danger. "I'll do it." Hinata says before anyone can try and think up a reason why they shouldn't risk Hinata in that way.

With a sigh, he moves to a more hidden spot to change his cloth, Neji and Shikamaru move to likely help him pick out the right kind of armor to dress up in. By the time they're done, he walks out already transformed into a Gnoll holding a shield and a spear. "This just feels so weird." He says before laughing slightly, it came out sounding like a giggle which caused Dart to chuckle before the Fairy Dragon moves to fly about him.

"Looking sharp, Naruto!" The little dragon declares and he gives Dart a dirty look before glancing over to Hinata. Within seconds, he's got the spear head at Hinata's back with her hands supposedly tied behind her back. Her sword hanging from his belt.

He doesn't pause or slow down as he approaches the pair of guards. The pair notice him and within minutes, before he's within a few feet of them, they stand up as straight as they can, trying to look fierce. As he gets close, he wondered if they expected him to stop and say something but as he walks between the pair, they never tried to halt his process like the gate guards at Hidden Leaf, asking for ID and what not.

Once they're behind, Hinata lets go of the bit of rope, in one smooth motion, she grabs her sword from his belt as she moves to stab the Gnoll to his right, he moves to the left and buries the tip of his spear into the Gnoll's gut. Within seconds, he has slammed his shield into the back of the Gnoll's head, stunning the Gnoll. He hears a thump and glances to find a head on the ground, next to a fallen body.

He gives himself a shake, his body seems to melt and fold onto itself until he looks like he normally does. "Ah, much better." He says as he gives Hinata a grin, she returns the grin with a smile with a bit of red in her cheeks. Hinata nods hastily before looking away, down at the path. It didn't take the others long to join them, he didn't get a chance to change out of his cloths, he's fairly certain that Hinata would faint if he did so.

It didn't take him long to pull out his usual weapons, leaving Neji and Kiba to loot the dead Gnolls. "Well, that worked splendidly." Choji muses and he shrugs while Hinata says, "Yes, it did." Shikamaru frowns as he says, "It won't work for the courtyard though."

Once the looting of the bodies were done, they continued on their way into the courtyard. Dart casts an illusion on them as a group so they don't get spotted right away by the guards at the end of the tunnel. They dropped easily and once more the looting of their person commences before they continue on, glancing about the decaying gardens that lie between the keep and the outer walls.

They didn't way a word as they walk slowly up to the large doors. Luckily, it seems that the small band of fiends that were posted weren't doing their jobs but were gambling with some of the Gnolls that should have been out on patrol about he courtyard. With a shrug from him, the primary spell casters did their bit before Choji and him charged in, catching most of the gambling beings off guard and totally stunned by their sudden appearance.

It take about thirty minutes to kill them all, most of the fiends vanish back to their plane, following some of their already banished brothers and sisters that Kiba and Shikamaru had banished at the beginning of the assault. Neji managed to kill those that were trying to flee while Hinata managed to charm a few of them before they killed them.

They looted the corpses and the pile of coins and other items that the beings were gambling with. They motioned for Dart to take point and with a puffed out chest, the little dragon does so with relish. He pauses to glance about the area before moving to caught up with the others, he just couldn't believe their luck is all since he kind of expected the other patrolling Gnolls to hear something and come rushing to aid their comrades.

Kiba, oddly enough, has transformed into his beast form, a very large wolf and seems to be walking just behind Dart. He glances questioningly at Neji and then at Choji but they just shrug and he hadn't managed to get Hinata or Shikamaru's attention so he just left it be. He can't help but reflect at how odd their group seems to be, at least three heirs to three clans, one genius, a dog boy, and then himself, the foremost prankster in all of Hidden Leaf village.

_At least I don't have to deal with that Uchiha kid. Man, you'd think he's a prince or something the way everyone fawns over him. Heck, if I fail this year's Genin examine I might make Genin with Neji's class. That wouldn't be so bad, I guess._ He muses thoughtfully as he studies Neji for a few seconds before trying to focus on remaining alert, after all, Dart mentioned running into skeleton guards and he's a bit interested to see what that would be like.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

They were in a large room, one that kind of looks like it might have been a dinning hall once upon a time. But at this moment, she's kind of busy trying to hack off a limb that's currently holding this whip that seems to be like a scorpion's tail with the barb at the end of it being poisonous, although it's likely a more common poison that causes numbness or something along that line from seeing how one of the Gnolls try and shake off the effects of the poison. The owner of said whip seems to be a naked woman with the wings of a bat and a thin, whip like tail, something that kind of reminds her of her own tail.

She can hear Naruto curse as his swords keep hitting these chains that this one fiend wears and uses as armor and weapons. To the other side of her, Kiba fights in his hybrid form, taking on the largest fiend of the group. The fight between those two had become nothing more then fight of brute strength and underhanded tactics. As far as she knows, all of the fiends seem to be focusing on them, leaving the other three to be dealt with by the Gnolls.

She manages to evade the whip once more as the strange fiend woman manages to leap backwards to use her whip. A group of Imps as Naruto calls them, comes rushing in, causing her to divert her focus, once more, from the naked fiend to kill the Imps. Everything pauses for a split second as Kiba lets loose a victory howl before something seems to snap, she glances slightly to see that the fiend that Kiba had been fighting neck was at an odd angle.

Then the fighting resumed and Kiba leaps towards the woman like fiend, she sighs but leaves the job to Kiba since she hadn't managed to make much head way in a fight with that one. More Imps join the fight, a few of them alter their form, becoming large spiders before they attack. _Should have known we'd encounter foes who could do that._ She muses for a brief second before moving to deal with the new threat these Imps now pose.

She pauses long enough to use a Cure on herself since she has received a few bites from said Imps, it seems that they're poisonous since she had started to feel like her arms were encased in heavy metal or something like that. Kiba yowls slightly in pain while Naruto seems to growl, she ignores what's going on with them as the Imps once more regroup.

Scowling, she cases Flare on one of the Imps that were launching itself at her. She finishes said Imp off easily and cases Daze when one of the spider Imps come charging towards him. _Ok, next time Shino shows himself, I'm asking to see if I learnt any new spells. I need more attack magic._ She decides as something heavy and metal land on the stone floor, it sounds like Naruto managed to kill that fiend with chains.

"Need help, Hinata?" Naruto asks and she smiles slightly as she hums her thanks. "No problem, Hinata. What are friends for if they can't help you slaughter tiny beings?" Naruto says in a joking manner, she can already picture the look on his currently furry face when he said that.

She never once regretted trying to help Naruto that day in the park, true, it lead to her being forced to find it within her to kill attacking, thinking beings and it's been pretty rough having to camp out, but she gets to spend pretty much every day and night with the boy she's grown to admire. While she doesn't know what she's feeling is a crush or something else, she's fairly certain that she'll never forget the time she spent inside of this game with Naruto and the others.

She half turns to find Dart wrestling an Imp to the floor, it seems that one of them managed to get around her without her knowing and tried to attack her from behind. "Thanks, Dart." She says to the Fairy Dragon but wasn't offended that the little dragon was too busy to reply.

It didn't take long before all of the Imps had been dealt with, or at least those that hadn't fled. With a glance over to Kiba who seems to have transformed into his human form, he seems to be concentrating and within seconds, a Gnoll that's to Choji's right freezes. "It worked! Hahaha! I knew I should be able to cast that one!" Kiba crows as Choji knocks the frozen Gnoll over onto the ground, causing some of the ice to shatter.

With that, Naruto and her move to help kill the remaining eight Gnolls, which didn't take long although they were likely all tired by then. She allows gravity to pull her to the ground, her whole body is sore, she's covered in blood and gore too boot. "Well, Dart, I believe this proves why we don't enter into large rooms." Naruto remarks to the little dragon.

"In the hallways, it forces them to attack one at a time, it doesn't cost us much to engage them in that fashion but out in the open, they can surround us and they have greater mobility." Neji adds and Dart nods in a sage like fashion out of the corner of her eye. "Hallway battles are better then room battles, I got that memorized." Dart says and she smiles tiredly at the little lizard like being who specializes in casting illusions.

Shikamaru gets up off the floor to start his rounds, healing and curing their injuries. Behind her, she hears Kiba's faint snoring, it seems that between the rage she saw him enter and then using some of his newer spells, it caused him to be more then slightly exhausted. "And they say cats are lazier then dogs." Naruto muses and she sighs.

"He did a lot of physical fighting this time around and then he attempted to use those ice spells, not knowing if he had them or not." She points out, defending Kiba's right to take a nap. "I'm not denying that, Hinata. This is one of our hardest battles yet, kind of reminded me of the first few Goblin patrols we encountered to be honest. I also say that we should check the stable when we're done clearing out these guys. I'm sure we're allowed to have mounts, although I think Kiba's going to have to find a Nightmare or something since I doubt there are any of the normal breeds of horses that would carry a Dire Werewolf." Naruto says and she felt a bit surprised at the thought of owning her very own horse.

After all, what little girl hadn't dreamed of owning a pony of her very own?

"It would also save time and help us conserve energy." Neji muses and Shikamaru hums in agreement. "I don't think there's a horse strong enough to carry me." Choji says with a sigh. "Oh come on! There War Horses that were bred to carry Minotaurs into battle! Of course there are horses in the world that can carry you, Choji! If not a horse, there are other kinds of animals that people use to get around. Heck, these people manage to tame and ride winged horses and such to fly in the air!" Naruto tells them, trying to cheer Choji up.

"How can they fly with a rider?" Shikamaru wonder briefly before he answers himself within a heartbeat later. "Magic more then likely. This world is so troublesome." Dart snores softly and Neji gets up once Shikamaru finishes attending to his injuries.

"Well now, are we going to camp out in this room and give them time to blockaded us in? Or are we going to continue on?" Neji asks as he begins to stretch, although she can tell he's eager to pick their pockets to see what they have. "We can pick their pockets later, or pick the pockets of their looters." Shikamaru says, likely reading what's going on Neji's mind. "Spoil sport." Naruto pretty much sums up most of their thoughts on the matter.

"Troublesome. Whatever happened to respecting the dead?" Shikamaru wonders and most of them shrug. "You know, funny thing is, it doesn't even bother me when I do it. The same goes for killing. Have any of you noticed some new habits? I mean, I find myself giving a bit more thought to cloths like, how they match, are they of good quality, and do these items go with it?" Naruto admits and she blinks as she turns to study Naruto's attire while the others all seem to frown as they consider just what Naruto's implying.

"I kind of find myself wishing to travel to some place in the ground. I feel alive during a fight." Neji admits after a period of silence. "I find myself composing songs." She tells them. "I feel more calm and comfortable with myself." Choji says and she nods in agreement. "I feel connected to the world at large." Shikamaru admits.

"I wonder what it'll be like, being back at the academy now that I've killed not just one or two people but groups of them." She wonders. "Anyway, we really should get a move on." Neji pipes in, changing the topic to something safer. "Well, we need to finish getting checked over and then wake up Mr Wolfy here, then we can go." Naruto points out dryly as Naruto scoops Dart up into his arms.

Within minutes, Shikamaru finishes his rounds and they began to think of ways to wake Kiba up from his nap. Naruto stayed out of it, surprisingly enough, but then, he did have a sleeping Fairy Dragon in his arms, so he could be excused from not wanting to lose the little guy just so he can take a turn waking their warlock.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

After hours of searching about the keep and fending off attacks by skeletons and more low level fiends, they finally arrived at the door leading into the sorcerer chambers. They break to eat and drink, Dart curls up to nap once more, not that he blames the little dragon since they're all getting tired and they're all getting affected. Hinata's head found its way to his shoulder earlier and he put his arm about her shoulders to help steady her.

As he turns to look at her, he finds that she's fast asleep. He smiles slightly at the heiress, kind of uneasy about having her fall asleep while leaning on him. It felt like something was fluttering about in his midsection as his face heats up. He didn't know what to make of his reactions to the solo girl of the party, although he did wonder if any of the others were reacting in the same way he was or if it's just him.

He turns to find Choji trying to stay awake while Neji and Shikamaru were busy meditating. Kiba seems to be busy examining a bunch of items like amulets, rings, pendants, and three scrolls. He sighs and stifles a yawn, trying to stay awake but boredom and exhaustion were lowering his defenses. Within minutes, with his back against the wall, he found himself dreaming about deer flavored Ramen while telling the Third about his adventures.

-)**T**(-

"Naruto... Naruto! Your catnap is over!" He hears Kiba shout into one of his ears. He growls in a throaty manner as he opens his eyes to glare hatefully up at the Dire Werewolf. "You have ten seconds to run before I neuter you!" He snarls and he hears Hinata stir to his left.

Kiba's smile seems to fade on seeing his expression, he really wished he could follow through with that threat but, unless he's got a silver knife, the damage would repair itself. Making it so that he never did it. Something that kind of reminds him how he heals before he entered into this game. He frowns as he ponders that, almost not noticing when Hinata eeps as she discovered she had fallen asleep leaning on him.

He snaps out of his thoughts as he smiles slightly at Hinata, her face seems to go crimson before she turns to look away from him. He gets to his feet and notices that Dart's already taken to the air. "You two look so cute together!" Dart comments and he tries his hardest to keep his expression neutral while Neji just seems to shake his head.

"Anyway, hope you two feel refreshed, we're about to deal with one of the bosses of the keep. Expect a lot of underlings and spells flying about." Kiba says as the warlock moves to stand with Shikamaru. With a shrug, he heads to the door, already having one of his swords in his hands as gets ready to open the door, trusting that Neji's already checked for traps and gave it an ok.

"Ready?" He asks, Dart hangs about Shikamaru, likely to help protect the cleric by using his illusions. Most of them nod, weapons at the ready.

He opens the door and manages to evade a large fireball coming at him. He ducks and rolls while the fireball hits the wall in the hallway. "I was wondering when you'd show up. Adventurers, blah! You're always gumming up the works." The short sorcerer with a messy red bread. "You're a Dwarf?" He says in amazement as he matches book description to reality.

"Aye! I am, you have a problem with that?" The Dwarf demands, the crystal at the top of the staff blazing a sick green color. "Not really, no." He admits after a few seconds, the distraction allowed the others to enter into the large room that didn't smell too good.

The Dwarf blinks a bit, slightly surprised at that. "I just, well, you know... Never thought I'd meet one... working with... Gnolls?" He says and the Dwarf shrugs. "Well, work's work, and what not." The Dwarf grumbles and he nods in agreement. "Yea, guess so." He says as he takes the other sword from its sheath while the crystal lights up once more.

"Did I miss something?" Kiba wonders before getting hushed by Neji. Within seconds, the room fills with berobed Gnolls and sickly looking fiends. One of the Gnolls cries something in its native language, likely translating into 'Attack!' or 'Charge!' since the fiends begin to come towards them at a looping run. The Gnolls begin to cast spells as Choji and Hinata come to fight by his side while Shikamaru and Kiba begin their spell casting to counter the Dwarf's and the thirteen Gnolls.

He manages to dispatch the first fiend with ease and moves to attack a second. It likely helps that they leveled up quiet a bit since they started this dungeon crawl, he hopes he's got the name right. It's likely because of that, these fiends seem to be hardly a challenge for them. The seventeen fiends fell to Choji, Hinata, and his battle skills while Neji seemed to have managed to kill three of the mage Gnolls whole the Dwarf sorcerer exchange spells with Kiba and Shikamaru. Dart seems to have moved to help Neji with the Gnolls.

It didn't take long for him move to where the Gnolls were with Choji and Shikamaru. He hisses in pain as he gets hit by a Magic Missile in the shoulder. He returns fire by sending a Magic Missiles at the one who shoot at him, it hit the Gnoll's nose and Choji manages to toss another Gnoll into that one. He gives Choji a thumbs up while Choji just waves before moving to help Hinata.

He moves forward and spears the fallen Gnolls in the head, killing them before moving to engage the Dwarf since it seems as if the last four Gnolls were about to be dealt with by Choji, Dart, Hinata, and Neji. It doesn't help that it looks like Kiba's about to enter into a rage. And so he brings down his sword on the Dwarf's head, causing the sorcerer to drop to the ground.

"Well, that wasn't too hard." Choji admits after a few minutes. He frowns as he studies the Dwarf, he can hear swallow breathing coming from the fallen Dwarf. _So he's still alive, huh? Oh well, not my problem._ He decides after a few seconds as he debates what to do with the Dwarf.

"Well done, well done! Bravo!" A feminine voice says with a bit of soft clapping echoing through the room. They turn to regard a very feminine elven woman entering into the room. "Such handsome specimens we have here! A full blooded Drow and a Naztharune Rakashasa swordman." The woman says and he frowns as he gets a better view of her features, her skin is a chocolate brown, her hair copper in color with amber eyes.

_She's an elf, but some kind of cross breed though._ He thinks as she continues walking into the room, he highly doubts that she's harmless though, not when she managed to command Gnolls, fiends, sketelons, Hell Hounds, and the Dwarf. Sure, she seems to be dressed in a dress but considering Dart's abilities, the dress is likely an illusion over top of she's truly wearing, which he bets is some kind of magical armor.

More Gnolls entered into the room from behind them and from another doorway, their crossbows pointed at them as their boss walks more into the room, confident about her abilities to come out of this alive it seems. "It is very rare for a Rakashasa to walk about, displaying their true identities to the world at large." The woman says, her amber eyes seem to be hungry at the sight of him. Its as if should couldn't get enough of looking at him, which kind of made him very edgy for some reason.

He lets the breath he had been unknowingly holding when the elven woman turns to regard Neji, he could tell that Kiba didn't seem happy being dismissed as unimportant. Although what really puzzles him is Hinata's reaction when the woman had been setting her sights on him. Hinata's grip on her sword seems to have tighten since her knuckles seem to be pale as her tail lashes through the air. Oddly, it kind of reminds him of these two alley cats had acted before they got into a fight.

_I wonder if this is the beginnings of the infamous 'cat' fight that I heard so much about._ He muses as the elven woman seemed to realize what kind of effect she's having on Hinata but doesn't seem too worried about it as the boss woman moves close to Neji, her index finger moving down Neji's blood stained cheek. Creating a clean trail through the spot of blood and then as she pulls away, she puts said index finger in her mouth for a second, humming a bit before taking the index finger out of her mouth.

Neji, surprise surprise, had a frown on his face but hasn't made an attempt to move from his position. Shikamaru and Kiba get within feet of them, he could only guess where Dart is hiding, likely using an illusion to hide. His eyes flicker to the Dwarf, wondering if the sorcerer had woken up yet.

"Ah yes, the Dwarf. What an unusual specimen he was. I was growing bored of him, but then, Dwarves are usually tiring and trying beings." The elf woman says, clearly not realizing that the Dwarf is very much alive. "If I hadn't needed a magic user so badly, I would have allowed my Gnolls to kill him once this keep came into my possession." He sighs mentally as he notices the Dwarf's one hand twitch.

_Yip, he's come too._ He muses and then uses Detect Thoughts on the Dwarf to see just what's going through his mind. To his luck, the Dwarf seems to be in a bit of a rage over what his previous boss had said about him. It seems that the Dwarf really, really wants to strangle the woman, so he allows the spell to fade as he moves to stand by Neji while the woman switches to trying to get Neji and him to switch sides.

"Dwarf's pissed." He mutters softly under his breath in Undercommon. Neji turns slightly to regard him with a hint of surprise before his face returns to normal. "I see." Neji replies in the same language.

He blinks as Hinata gives a war cry as she starts attacking the elven woman, clearly didn't like the mentioned of him being the woman's 'bed' buddy. Everybody seems so startled that they just watched as the illusion of the dress vanishes to reveal armor and a large mace. "Huh, she's a priestess." Shikamaru muses after a few minutes as they watch the fight going on between Hinata and boss lady of the keep.

"So... what did Naruto tell you?" Kiba asks with a slight scowl on his face, it's clear that Kiba's sore about the lady's interest in Neji and himself. "The Dwarf's not dead." Neji says in a calm voice and at his words, the Dwarf gets to his stubby feet and with a snarl, casts a spell when the priestess manages to get Hinata to the ground.

The woman screams but within seconds, the flesh from her face vanishes before the body touches the ground. Hinata pushes the corpse off of her and the Dwarf says hatefully, "At least I wasn't a elf bitch mutt!" Then the Dwarf spites on the corpse.

As the Gnolls realize what just happened, they shoot their arrows, but they're already moving to take them out. Between them and the Dwarf, they manged to kill, hopefully, the last of the Gnolls in the room.

"Well, I guess I better be heading out." The Dwarf muses after they finish looting the corpses. "Well, hopefully we won't ever meet again, huh?" He says and the Dwarf chuckles. "Aye, let's hope we never see each others ugly mugs ever again." The Dwarf says and with that, the Dwarf snaps his fingers, any of his personal effects vanish while a satchel appears at the Dwarf's feet.

Without a bye, the Dwarf teleports away, leaving the keep to them. "How come people respond like that to you?" Kiba demands and he shrugs. "I guess it's because I'm lovable?" He guesses and Choji chuckles while most of the others seem to grin on hearing that.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	5. Arc 1: Chapter 5

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Anko**

_Oh kami, I wish I was down there, slaughtering those funny looking creatures._ She muses as she waits for the group to exit out of their first keep. She even took time to create her very own character sheet too. _There's always next time._ She reminds herself as she lazily glances about.

Tomorrow and for a few days following, Shino will be the only 'official' guard since she's finally going on a mission, a quick one but one that will take her away from the village. She had already sent off a message to Lord Hokage about them entering into a keep, she gets the feeling that the others had their fingers crossed that within this keep they'll find what they're looking for, so that the kids can return home, coming back with kick ass new skills and abilities as well as the gold they managed to find along the way.

And then it'll be her turn to give the game a try. Although where she's going to find five others to join her, she didn't know, but is confident that once this has been blown over, there won't be any need to keep quiet about this game. It also helps that she's got a few ideas on how to enlarge the playing board too. After all, she's managed to find the chapter about how to repair the game board should it ever get damaged before a game session.

_I wonder if it would be valid if I create five other game sheets and then have five random ninja put their name on it?_ She wonders as she begins on another stick of Dango.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

_It's official, it's not here._ He thinks as he wipes some spider gore and webbing from his cloths, he had once more, ran into a small group of rat sized spiders that then attacked him for no apparent reason other then he was there. He steps on a spider leg as he walks out of the room, as he decides to head back to the others, he hears a faint clicking.

Sighing he turns around and then his eyes try to bug out of his head. _Ah crap. . ._

-)**T**(-

"I Hate Spiders." He says with as much venom as he can muster as well as spacing it out as he marches to where Shikamaru is sitting, trying to read some text. "I do too." Dart says as the little dragon soars overhead, heading to where Naruto's sitting as the black furred tigerman tries to do maintenance on his swords.

"I told you going into the lower dungeons wasn't a good idea. There's likely more dangerous beasts down there. Ones that feed on those spiders." Naruto reminds him, he flushes slightly as indeed, Naruto had suggested they wait to explore those dungeons as a group in stead of in pairs or alone.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru says and within seconds, most of the bite marks had vanished. "Where's Choji, Hinata, and Kiba?" He asks, suddenly aware that they're missing. Annoyance flares up but he tries to fight it off by reminding himself that he doesn't care what becomes of Hinata or her virtue.

"They're trying to see if there's a stable here and if there is, are there any horses suitable to use as mounts." Naruto tells them and he sighs. "And you didn't go with?" He asks. "I should have? Why? I mean, we all could use some time apart from each other. We just got out of a stressful situation." Naruto says, it's likely that Naruto's parroting a bit of that but he had to agree, they all needed some alone time after what they've been through.

A lot of things got said with their nerves on edge, although Naruto managed to come out of that oddly better then they had. Although it might have something to do with him being the village parish and having personal experience about frayed nerves. "I'm kind of surprised that you didn't snap at us as we were snapping at each other." He says and Naruto shrugs.

"Yea well, being angry, snappy, or totally disagreeable never got me anywhere before so why start now?" Naruto tells them and he sighs, he could only guess what kind of life Naruto had lead. He had thought the boy pretty foolish, always wearing a smile but in someways, that smile's Naruto's first line of defense against a hostile world that should have beaten the fight out of him long ago.

He can't help as he frowns as he wonders how it was that Naruto got such a bad reputation with the supposed adults of the village. True, Naruto's an orphan but the village has tons of those because of the Kyuubi incident about ten or so years ago. _He's a natural blond._ He muses to himself as he calls up the image of the nine year old he had seen what seems to be years ago, another lifetime ago.

_There aren't many blonds in our village too._ He thinks to himself as he gets up and walks over to where Naruto is sitting with Dart curled up next to him. The little dragon seems content to lay there, next to Naruto as the feline type humanoid cleans and polishes his sword blades. He notices the new leather straps about the hilt of the swords.

"You have surprising depth." He tells Naruto and Naruto hums in agreement as he picks up an oiled rag once he has his dagger out. And so he sat there, clearing his dagger's blade, he already discarded the thought that Naruto himself were who the village were angry with. It might be something his parents did that caused them to transfer the blame from said parents onto said boy.

It didn't come to either of their surprise to hear soft snores coming from Dart, after all, the dragon is kind of like a cat in that aspect, find a nice warm, comfortable spot and then take a nap. He's also fairly certain that Shikamaru isn't napping but meditating to receive spells from his patron god.

They had finished and he raises an eyebrow as Naruto plays with those cards that they looted during that gambling game they interrupted, but sat back, watching Naruto play a game that he somehow knew and yet he's sure he never seen it played before in his life.

"Oh yea! We so rock!" Kiba crows as the Dire Werewolf enters into the room, causing him to turn to look at the three of them as they walk towards them. Shikamaru is startled out of his meditation. He hears Shikamaru mutter his favorite word before he begins to stretch.

"So I take it that you three found suitable mounts?" He asks and Kiba nods with a wide grin on his face. "We'd have to draw straws to see who gets the other heavy warhorse but, yea, we found suitable mounts, ones that don't even react to yours truly." Kiba says, puffing out his chest, clearly pleased with himself.

He gives Hinata the once over before he says calmly, "I take it that Choji gets the first heavy warhorse by default." Kiba answers, "Well, d'ah! He's got a lot of muscle, so he's heavier then us."

"I'm just big boned!" Choji growls and Hinata moves to put a hand on Choji as she says, "Nobody's called you fat, you just have larger muscle mass compared to us." That calms Choji while he sighs and Naruto remarks, "And here I really wanted to put a collar around your neck, dog boy, so that when you run off, people will know who you belong to."

"Maybe we should try putting a bell around your neck to keep you from ambushing poor, defenseless song birds." Kiba counters, baring his teeth in a menacing manner. "I'd like to see you try." Naruto retros as his ears flatten a bit while his eyes become slits.

Hinata sighs while Shikamaru rolls his eyes at their childish antics, but then, it's more then likely because of their natures coming into conflict that they can't help but take verbal jabs at each other. Within seconds, they turn their heads, determined to ignore each other's presence for now.

"So, have we decided that the specter isn't here?" Choji asks and he sighs. "We still have the lower levels to check out." He reminds them and Naruto nods in agreement. while Shikamaru says, "True, so after we've eaten, we'll head down there to see what's what."

_But you already think it's not here or we'd found it already._ He muse to himself. With a sigh, Naruto puts the ratty cards away before sheathing his swords. "So then, what's on the menu for today?" Naruto asks as the black tigerman gets up off the ground, careful not to disturb Dart too much.

"Whatever is in the store room." Choji muses and with a shrug, Naruto heads off to find the kitchens once more. "Let's hope we don't encounter any giant rats this time." Naruto half joke, half seriously says and they all mutter in agreement, although Dart wakes asking, "What. . .? Where. . .? Don't let them get me!"

Within seconds, Dart takes to the air, making a beeline for Hinata instead of Naruto this time around. "They're likely in the kitchen, Dart." Hinata say to comfort the little dragon. "Oh? Oh! Well, I wish they were a bit fatter, they've still got that hungry look about them that makes their meat stringy." Dart mutters and he feels a slight grin tug at his lips as he moves to follow Naruto out of the Dwarf Sorcerer's quarters.

-)**T**(-

With magic lights lighting their way, they move about the dark and dank dungeons, it seems that with their numbers, most of the large spiders seem reluctant to try and fight them. Although they did encounter enough large swarms of rabid rats and Dire rats that seem more then happy to try and kill them. It's more then likely that a few of those rats that were among the swarms had been survivors of the few battles up in the kitchen since they were very good at homing in onto their position.

Other then being annoying, the rats didn't prove to be that difficult to deal with. As they come across a four way diverge, trying to figure out if they should keep on the same path or go either left or right, something moves behind him, he rolls on the balls of his heels, trying to get out of the way but his right arm suddenly has these tentacles about it. "What the. . .?!" He says in alarm as he finds himself staring into a creature that had a beak between four tentacles.

Hinata, being the closest, slices the tentacles holding his arm and he pulls it out of the way of the wicked looking beak as the monster cries out in pain. Choji yelps in surprise as another one grabs a hold of him. Kiba casts a frost spell on Choji's monster while Hinata parries a lung from the strange monster that's got a snake like body but no eyes that he could see. It didn't take long for Hinata to kill it and Kiba finishes off the other while Naruto moves about, stabbing the corners to make sure there aren't others about.

"What are they?" Kiba wonders after they're sure there weren't any others about, waiting to attack. "Grick, I think." Shikamaru says and they turn to look at him with questioning looks. "Troublesome." Shikamaru says before continuing, "I found a Beastiary about the sorcerer's room and read it to refresh my knowledge on monsters that we will likely encounter."

"Huh, well, good for us I guess." Kiba says and with that, they continued forward, heading down the same path. In time, they finally came to a large room filled with a lot of spiders with five of these white spiders with navy blue markings that also have a single talon on each 'toe'. "Phase Spiders." Shikamaru says, identifying the large spiders.

He fought the shiver that tried to make itself known. He goes for his crossbow and loads it in one swift motion, taking aim and firing at one of the strange spiders. Something happens and the arrow goes straight through the spot where the spider had been before it reappears. "I hate spiders." He says in a flat tone while a few of the spiders begin to come towards them while the five Phase Spiders make that clicking sound with their mandibles.

"Well, these spiders won't be killing themselves, although that would be great, won't it?" Dart says and Naruto chuckles in agreement. And so, as he targets the smaller spiders since the second time he targeted one of the Phase Spiders it just mimicked the first spider's actions. Slowly, they moved forward through the spider gore and blood, moving towards the Phase Spiders.

It wasn't long before one of said spiders leaps at Choji, he manages to hit said spider with an arrow since it hadn't paid much attention to him, just on Choji. Hinata cuts into the head of the fallen spider while Choji fries it with a Ki blast, killing it. Kiba and Shikamaru casts spells while Dart picks off the smaller ones, chopping on them before swallowing them.

By then end, the room is littered with frosty spider parts, burnt spider parts, and then just normal splattered spider parts. "They won't regenerate, right?" He asks and Naruto answers, "Nope, only trolls do that."

"Then remind me to stir clear of trolls." He mutters and a few of them chuckled, helping to lighten the mood. "Well, I don't think we'll encounter anything more deadly then rat from now on." Hinata says and he hopes she's right.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	6. Arc 1: Chapter 6

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Shino**

He sighs as the group finally exits the keep riding on horses, he did muse briefly about why they were riding them until he logically decided it likely had to do with speeding up their search. He notices that the little figurine is still with them, a Fairy Dragon named Dart. He watches them travel to the tower northeast of their location.

He decides to wait for them to rest before making an appearance, he also mentally notices other monsters that were coming common place the more they traveled in said direction. Sadly, tomorrow classes resume once more.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

After traveling in a northeastern direction for most of the day, they finally took a break from riding horse back. Most of them were sore and stiff from doing so, only Hinata and Dart weren't sore and stiff, but then Dart either rides on a shoulder or is flying about while Hinata had listed riding for a skill, so she fared better then they had. _I wonder if it's too late to get it listed?_ He wonders as he walks about, stretching his back, shoulders, arms, and neck, causing things to crack and pop while Hinata begins to check her horse over to make sure nothing is wrong with the gelding she's riding.

"Hey, Dart?" He calls out and the little dragon comes flying towards him, hovering in the air before him. "Yes?" Dart asks and with a grin, he feels his whole body shifting, rearranging itself until he's fully transformed into an Avariel, a winged elf. "When I'm in this body, can I fly using these wings?" He asks as he flexes the wings and Dart seems to take his time examining him.

"Why blond hair?" Dart asks and he sighs, he had wanted to transform into an Avariel, he didn't really imagine the little details like hair and eye color. "I think so. Although you'd have to practice a lot to get the hang of it." Dart says before moving to examine his wings. He glances over at the others and found them looking slightly amused about how he looks.

He frowns before taking time to glance at his body. "I'm going to find something to get a better look at myself." He says and with Dart, he heads off in search of a water source. He did take time to note that Shino's going to be talking with the group while he's gone.

After finding a pond, he did get a good look at himself, he did have the same shade of blond hair he had before only longer and more tamed. His eyes were a lighter shade of blue and his skin a bronze color. He had usual features one expects from an Elf, pointed ears, slender muscular build.

"Hey! I just had a thought!" Dart says, hovering over the pond and he raises an eyebrow. "Oh? What's the idea?" He asks, curious to know what the little dragon had in mind. "It would be so funny if you transformed into a Minotaur and rushed into the camp!" Dart says and he snorts.

"They won't be scared of a single Minotaur, Dart. A group, yes." He says and then frowns. "But I'm not going to do that since I see no reason to have them mad at me." He admits as he crosses his arms over his chest, allowing his body to transform back into his usual form.

"Hmmm, Naruto? Turn around very slowly." Dart says in a very subdued way. He raises an eyebrow and does so. "Holy crap, what is that?" He asks as the fiery horse snorts a jet of flames out of its nose. "I would call that a Nightmare." Dart says as the flaming horse paws the ground while tossing its head.

"Well, I guess there's only one thing for it." He says and within seconds his body transforms into the form of a black Minotaur. "I have to beat it to a bloody pulp." He says and with a cry, launches himself at the fiery horse. It bellows its own war cry before charging to meet his attack head on.

A meaty fist hits the evil horse in the nose, stunning the beast for a second before trying to bite him in the arm. He slams his other fist into the nightmare's head and then tries to gore the horse with his body's current set of horns. The horse rears up and manages to slam its hooves down at him.

A yelp of pain, he backs up for a few seconds while the evil horse charges at him. He manages to grab the beast about the neck and throw the flaming horse into the pond. The horse screams in outrage as it struggles to get up onto its feet. Dart's hovering higher in the air as he moves into kick the horse in the ribs while it's still on the ground.

The horse manages to kick him, causing him to fall away. As he gets to his feet, the nightmare bellows as it charges at him. He grunts as the horse's head rams into his chest. Quickly getting an arm about the beast's neck, he begins to punch it in the shoulder a few times before the evil horse manages to bite him in the leg, causing him to let go as he rubs the site of the injury.

The evil black horse seems to be suffering because of the blows to its one shoulder. "Well? Come one then! We're not done just yet!" He growls as he does the 'bringing it on' gesture and the horse grunts before doing just that. The evil horse manages to bite him a few times, he manages to daze the nightmare after a few blows to the head, the hooves manage to catch him in the shoulder, and he grabs the horse's throat and tries to strangles the beast.

As he has the beast on the ground with a meaty hand choking the horse once it grew too weak to stand. "Naruto there's a... Nightmare about the forest..." Choji says as they arrive. "Oh? I hadn't noticed." He says while Dart chuckles a bit.

"I wanted to beat it to a blood pulp!" Kiba whines slightly and once the flames seem to be dead, he lets got of the throat, a slight gasp is heard from the fallen horse as he stands up. "Ha! I showed it who's boss, didn't I?" He asks Dart who's resting on Hinata's shoulders as he transforms back into his usual body, that of a humanoid black tiger.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru says and he shrugs. He rolls his eyes before turning to eye the black evil horse that has living flames for its mane and tail, although its eyes and nostrils were a lit with orange and red flames. "You think I should piss on her?" He asks them. "You know, just to let her know she's defeated?" He adds and he swears the horse's eyes widen before it jerks to bring its legs under its body.

"For all you know, it could be a he." Choji points out and he shrugs, not really caring one way or the other. "So then, now what do we do with her?" He asks. "Well, usually, when you beat one up, they tend to be yours to rid, well, until it thinks its strong enough to kill you." Dart pipes in.

"How come Naruto keeps getting all the cool animals?" Kiba grumbles while Neji says, "You're more then capable of summoning and controlling a demonic familiar." Kiba growls, "Yea but it's never the same!"

"Well then, I here by dub her, Ino because her namesake has a mean right hook." He says and the horse seems to make a throaty sound, likely disagreeing with said name and gender. "Hey! I'm the boss of you now, so you better like being female and having a girl's name." He snaps while Dart giggles.

The nightmare shorts out smoke, its natural flames slowly returning to life. "Perhaps giving him a guy's name and using the correct gender would endure you to him?" Hinata muses and he glances over at Hinata before looking at the evil horse. "But she's going to try and kill me either way, at least this way, I get to rub in my power over her." He says and the nightmare grunts, likely out of agreement then anything.

"See? She just agreed with me, so Ino she shall be until she manages to kill me or we leave find what we seek." He says and within seconds, Ino gets to her feet and they head back to their camp with Ino trailing behind him, likely plotting how to kill him in a very painful manner.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

They did finally did cross paths with that train of traveling merchants, they aided in driving off a party of eighteen Bugbears. It seems that the guard escorts were having some difficulties since they ran out of arrows a few weeks ago and they were very reluctant to fight in close quarters with them. Which made him wonder just what their plan had been to drive them off before they showed up to aid in their efforts.

Although Naruto did transform into a Half-Elf before they did so, it seems that the blond rather not gather too many looks or he's just taunting his mount by transforming into a smaller, weaker form. Either way, more then a few of the caravan were wary of Naruto simply because of the Nightmare that he rids, his previous mount has become a pack animal and it's more then likely the can sell it to this caravan in exchange for good food.

They all manage to sell the extra stuff they had been hauling about while also buying better equipment and many sets of clean cloths. Although Hinata had also bought some cooking pots as well as some soap for them to do laundry. It really didn't come to anybody's surprise when Naruto's extra stuff turned out to be larger then their stores since Naruto did hunt about those Goblin huts at the beginning, before they all got into the habit of packing everything that looked to be the tiny bit useful into their satchels.

"So then, are we ready to go?" He asks Shikamaru who just finished talking with the head of the caravan. "Yes we are. Hopefully we don't have to worry about any large parties of Bugbears, let alone an encampment." Shikamaru says.

"I think Kiba bought a 'pet'." He tells Shikamaru. "Troublesome." The cleric says and he nods in agreement. "Choji didn't get a good look at it but it's something that's likely deadly." He continues to tell Shikamaru.

"Just as long as he didn't pick up anything dangerous, I think whatever he gold he has is his to spend as he sees fit." Shikamaru says and he hums in agreement as they head toward their mounts, they still had a bit of daylight left to travel by.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	7. Arc 1: Chapter 7

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Neji**

"You must be a glutton for punishment." He casually says to Naruto and the feline looking man gives him a minor glare as the tip of his tail flickers as one of Naruto's black furry ears moves to face his direction. "Last time I checked, I wasn't complaining about anything." Naruto tells him in a flat tone.

"Doesn't change the fact that your mount seems more blood thirsty now then when you first got _her_." He says and Naruto snorts before turning to where Kiba is murmuring to himself while looking onto a satchel that holds the pet that he purchased from the caravan. "Look on the bright side, at least Ino's more out in the open about her attempts then whatever Kiba has in his bag." Naruto says in a cheerful tone.

"And yet your mount just needs to get one good kick in to crush in your skull." He reminds the black furred tigerman. As Naruto sits down, he scowls while Dart comes to land on Naruto's shoulders. "I think we should go hunt for something to feed Ino, I think that might be the reason why she's been getting cranky." The green peacock Fairy Dragon says.

"Well then, want to make it a race to see who can hunt the biggest game? I'm sure everyone would like to have something fresh for a change." Naruto says, grinning toothily at Dart. "You're on!" Dart says as fire seems to sprout about the little lizard like being's frame.

Within seconds, Naruto picks up a short bow and arrows that Rakashasa had bought during their brief meeting with that caravan, leaving his twin blades behind while Dart just does as his name suggests and darts off in a random direction, not even bothering to wait for Naruto to finish collecting his bow. "Where does he get the energy?" He wonders to himself as he watches as Naruto races off into the surrounding meadow, trees weren't common about this place.

"So troublesome." He hears Shikamaru comment while Choji and Hinata come back from their water finding expedition with filled water bags. Tomorrow it'll be Kiba and his turn to do that chore, they were very determined not to leave Kiba and Naruto alone to do chores since it's more then likely they'd turn it into a competition between themselves, although it had been Kiba and his turn to go gather or hunt for fresh items to be added to their meal.

"I hope they don't run into trouble, after all, we still haunted by the last thing they encountered when they ran off out of our sight." Kiba remarks, they all turn to look at the Nightmare who seems to pause from trying to bully one of their horses who were tied up so they can't run away. The flames about the mane grew fierce as the evil horse turns from their mounts, walking at a slow pace to stand by itself, clearly annoyed that they were all looking at _her_.

"He doesn't even bother tying it up! I mean, it could easily just run away but it doesn't, which is kind of freaky considering it really doesn't like him, at all." Kiba adds and he sighs while giving his head a minor shake. "Naruto's got a talent for attracting interesting characters." Hinata agrees while said flaming horse snorts smoke before turning it's back on them.

With a sigh, they all turn away from looking at the latest addition to their group, one that seems to be more or less willing to tolerate their company. _Maybe Naruto's right to declare it a female, it definitely as the mood swings of a woman._ He muses as he turns to regard Kiba's bag, wondering just what exactly Kiba bought three days ago since the warlock seems to be keeping it a secret.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

He creates a few simple traps to catch smaller creatures like rabbits and rats. Once that's done, he begins to glance about for tracks of wild goats, deer, or any kind of tracks really, especially since they had heard howling during their time of riding through this part of the world. He finds a canine track in dry ground and bends down to sniff it to ID what kind of beast could have made it.

There wasn't a fresh scent with it, likely made when it last rained in these parts if he's any judge of tracks. As he takes time to judge the stride of the beast, he guesses a large wolf and leaves it at that before dismissing the trail as unimportant. Moving on, he did find other old tracks before finding old scat that shows that something passed this way a few days ago.

As he searches, he finally spots cloven tracks, likely from a herd of sheep about the edge of the meadow, which causes him to frown as he wonders what drove them off since the meadow's greenery looks tasty enough. As he stands there, debating on whether to try and follow the dirt path or go check his traps, he begins to hear a huffing coming from his left.

Frowning, he turns see what's breathing heavily. "Oh, it's a brown bear." He says with a sigh of relief, he had for a moment thought it had been some kind of dangerous monster.

And then the bear rears up on its hind legs and roars. He blinks and as the bear tries to slash at him with its large paws. He manages to dodge the slow and clumsy attempt. As the bear lands on said forepaws, the bear comes huffing at him, trying to trip him.

In the end, he manage to put some distance between himself and said huffing bear. He takes an arrow from his quiver and within seconds, the arrow flies through the air, the point entering into the beast's neck. This doesn't do much to slow the bear down, in fact, it seems to have angered the shaggy brown beast as it continues to charge at him.

He manages to put some more distance between him so he can shoot another arrow at the enraged beast. _Gee, not only is this bear larger, not polar bear large, it definitely has a mood disorder! Aren't they suppose to eat bamboo?_ He wonders as he manages to take a second shoot at the bear, the bear is now sporting three arrows lodge in its body, one in the neck and two in the chest.

He's growing tired of this bear attacking him, so he takes a moment to transform into that Minotaur form. Once the bear gets within range, he punches the beast with a meaty fist, something snaps as the brown bear falls to the ground, onto its back. He waits a few seconds before reverting to his normal body form.

Studying the beast, he sighs and then glances around for a few seconds before looking back down at the bear. With a shrug, he moves to the head and straining himself, he picks up the paws so that he can drag the bear closer to camp, slightly confident that he managed to win the challenge between himself and Dart.

He did have to pause a few times but finally, he drags the bear into camp. "What the heck did you do to that bear?!" Choji asks with wide eyes. "Hey! In my defense, it attacked me first! I just defended myself." He tells the group as they move to get a look at what he brought back.

"Why is it brown?" Kiba wonders and he shrugs while Neji bends down to examine the arrows. "I shoot it three times but it kept coming, so I transformed and with one blow, something snapped and it fell to the ground." He continues.

"It's still larger then a panda, huh?" He asks and Hinata nods in agreement. "Pretty strange, it's got more muscle then a panda has, might be more related to Polar Bears then pandas." Neji says once the rogue gets one of the arrows out of the body.

"Well, I'm going to go check my snares. Have fun examining it in more detail." He says to them and with that, heads back out of the camp.

-)**T**(-

In the end, Dart used an illusion to bring two live wild goats into camp while he returned with an assortment of rabbits and two strange lizards that were venomous. Kiba took off with said lizards as he began to skin the rabbits after gutting them. One of the goats head out of camp as Dart pouts while the other ended up getting killed by Ino, who seemed to be very happy to have something to kill and to devour at her leisure.

The others were still busy dealing with the bear, after all, there was a lot of meat to cut of it as well as the skin seems to be pretty thick too. Once he finished skinning them, he begins to butcher them before adding them to the drying rake, the one set up to dry the bear meat.

"Well, I believe our meal is done cooking." Hinata says and they stop what they're doing to go wash their hands before moving to take a plate filled with food. "Smells good, Hinata! Thanks!" He says and Dart echos his sentiments, causing Hinata to blush slightly as she smiles while saying, "You're welcome, Naruto. Dart."

Once they're done polishing off the meal, light chatter began to become common place as Shikamaru and himself move about to collect the dirty plates so they can go wash them in the small pond that Choji and Hinata found, leaving the others to continue working on finishing butchering up the bear and continue to expand the drying rack until they've finish striping the bones of meat.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	8. Arc 1: Chapter 8

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

He jerks fully awake when a howl pierces the night, it's soon joined by a few other voices. Glancing about the night, he spies a few pairs of glowing eyes just beyond his sight. The glowing eyes vanish as the beasts turn from him, likely heading to join those that had howled moments ago.

He feels his ears flatten against his skull, not liking the feeling of being hunted, it reminded him too much of his younger years. His tail thunks the ground before he scuffs at those memories. With a sigh, he turns to regard his friends, trying to determine if he should wake one of them about how close these large wolves have gotten.

Kiba yawns and perks up as the chorus of canine voices start up once more, only with more voices. "How often has that happen tonight?" Kiba asks as the warlock moves to join him by the dying fire.

"That's the second time tonight. I also saw a few glowing eyes some time ago." He tells Kiba. "They sound like large wolves at that." He adds and Kiba nods in agreement.

"I think they're Worgs." The Dire Werewolve warlock muses and he frowns as he tries to recall what that might mean for them. "You've read that tome that Shikamaru brought, didn't you?" He asks after he realizes where Kiba might have read up on them.

"I was curious about what other types of canines are out there." Kiba admits and he shrugs. "Well, you're clan does partner with dogs. Although that does make me wonder if you'll retain your status as a Dire Werewolf." He muses thoughtfully as he turns to give Kiba a calculated look.

"I doubt it, I think we just get to keep our skills and magical spells or ki techniques." Kiba admits and he sighs. "Yea, I'm going to miss looking this cool." He tells Kiba and the warlock snickers.

After a few minutes of silence he sighs as he asks, "I wonder if we'd get the chance to play this game again. After all, if you had the chance to play it again, would you repick your current race and class?" Kiba looks startled for a moment before getting thoughtful.

"I think I might want to try playing a Shifter ranger or maybe play as a Hound Archon paladin." Kiba admits and then asks, "How about you?"

He replies, "I wouldn't mind seeing what it's like to be a magic user. As for race... I might try playing a half-dragon, don't know what breed though." He hears Kiba hum thoughtfully, out of the corner of his eye, he notices how Kiba turns to regard Dart, who's curled up on the bundle of sheets that he uses as a bed.

Once more, those Worg howl and they both turn to face the direction the chorus of howls were coming from. "I think we might want to wake the others up." Kiba suggests and he nods as they both stand up.

Kiba casts a fire spell to stock the fire so it burns brightly while he moves to wake Neji up before moving to wake Shikamaru and Choji, leaving the rogue to wake Hinata. "Troublesome." Shikamaru says after he explains why he's waking them up. He shrugs as he moves to grab his twin swords, preparing for the incoming attack by the pack of Worg.

As they move to stake large torches about the camp to give them more light, from the surrounding darkness, a deep throaty growl emanates from a pair of glowing eyes. He replies by hissing while Ino least loose a challenging cry and within seconds, the Worg come charging into their camp, two of the Worg go for the racks of drying meat while the rest come for them. He slashes as a Worg tries to get in close to bite him.

The black pelted Worg snarls as it retreats from his swords while a gray pelted Worg tries to comes in from his right, he manages to slice a cut on said Worg's muzzle, some blood began to ooze out of the cut as the black pelted Worg comes charging forward to keep him from killing the gray pelted Worg. He manages to stab the black pelt in the eye before a third Worg, another gray pelt, comes charging towards him from the left, trying to bite down on his left arm. Hissing in annoyance, he turns and manages to slash at this new enemy.

An ear slices off of this second gray pelt Worg while the first gray pelt and the black pelt growl at him, trying to distract him from this new Worg. He casts Magic Missile and the two growling Worg yip as the spell hits the pair while he manages to slice through one of the forepaws of the second gray pelt Worg, causing that one to howl out in pain as the injury begins to bleed heavily. He whirls about to deal with the incoming two Worg, the first gray pelt and the black pelt, come at him at once.

Evading their attacks, he manages to slice through the back of the first gray pelt while the black pelt turns as quickly as it can to try and bite him. He hisses out in pain as the black pelt Worg's teeth sink through the leather arm guard, almost breaking his arm. He manages to stab this Worg in the neck a few times with the sword in his other hand, finally the black pelt Worg lets go and retreats.

As the two gray pelts try and attack, he beheads the first gray pelt before putting the other one out of its misery as well, leaving him to deal with the black pelted Worg that now has one eye. He keeps this Worg in his sight, trusting that the others were dealing with their own attackers as successfully as he is. The black Worg tries to retreat but he manages to drop his swords and within seconds, an arrow flies through the air, with a whine, the black Worg falls to the ground and he fires off another arrow.

He puts his short bow away and picks up his blades, walking up to the injured canine monster. Within seconds, he cuts off this one's head, killing it. He watches as a few of the Worg flee into the night, he doesn't bother trying to kill them as they swiftly move beyond his sight. With a shrug, he returns to the campsite, counting about eight dead Worg, nine if he counts the dead black Worg he killed while it was fleeing.

He ignores his mount as Ino begins to defur one of the Worg, it's likely that she killed that one as well. "Well, that was fun." He hears Neji murmurs as the rogue holds still as Shikamaru attends to the bite on Neji's right shoulder. "Troublesome more likely." Shikamaru answers and he shrug as he moves to see if Hinata needs help moving the dead Worg while Choji seems to be trying to calm down the horses.

"So, what are we doing with the Worg?" He asks Hinata once he's kneeling next to her. "I think we're going to pile them up before burning their corpses." Hinata admits and with a shrug, he moves to go collect the other dead Worg as Hinata continues to skin the Worg.

-)**T**(-

"So, I guess it's time for us to continue on our way, huh?" He muses to Hinata and she nods in agreement. "I guess we will, after all, we'll make it to the tower in a few days as long as we don't find something to distract us." Hinata answers.

He sighs as he turns to study Ino as she once more tries to bully the group of geldings and mares that serve as the others mounts, this only made the small herd nervous and they would have likely bolted long ago if it weren't for the leather straps about their feet, keeping them from walking about. Picking up a stone, he flings it at the evil horse, hitting her between the eyes. She makes a growlish sound as she stops bullying them to regard him.

"Stop that, it's not their fault there isn't a stallion among them, you horny mare." He says in a flat tone and the flames that were Ino's mane and tail flare up as Ino paws the ground with narrow glowing eyes while snorting. He hears Hinata sigh softly but just smirks at Ino.

In the end, Ino flicks her tail and turns to stalk away from the very relieved group of normal horses. "If you're so horny, try hanging at the edge of our camp! Maybe if you're lucky, a handsome stud will appear to serve you!" He hollers out at the supposed mare and Ino make a grunting sound as she keeps moving until she's by the ashes of the burnt Worg corpses. Within seconds, she rolls about within the pile.

"I think _she_ only acts like that is because she expects to be treated better then them." Hinata tells him and he shrugs. "What does she expect? Me to get a golden equipment and do her up in it?" He asks as he watches the Nightmare. "It's not as if she can fly or anything." He remarks after a few minutes of hearing Hinata sighing.

Ino's ears perk up and the evil fire horse turns to study him for a few seconds before making a nickering sound. Within seconds, Ino's on her feet and flames begin to flare up about her hooves, this causes him to raise an eye brow since he's fairly sure that she hadn't had that when they fought. Once the flames about her hooves matched the color of her mane and tail, Ino begins to trot about in a circle.

Suddenly after a few circles, Ino takes to the air, seemingly walking on air. Ino roars a thrill of trumpet before giving him a smug look. "Fine, I'll try and find good tack for her." He grumbles out and Ino whinnies in agreement while Hinata giggles before patting him on the back.

"Why the heck is Ino running on air?" Kiba asks, it sounds like the others were back. "She just proved she's deserving of better tack." He sums it up as he turns to look at the others as they come back with their laundry, although Dart seems to be sleeping on Choji's shoulders, likely due to Dart staying awake all night long.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru muses as the Half-Elf shakes his head as he continues walking towards them with they're now clean and dry cloths. "Thanks." Hinata and himself say as they get up to met them half way.

He takes his dry cloths which also includes his three sets of leather armor since he doesn't want to dirty his silk clothing any more. It didn't take long before he moves to change out of his light blue silk shirt and navy blue pants while Choji wakes Dart up so he can cast an illusion so that Hinata can change out of her own set of cloths into her own set of leather armor.

After picking to wear his brown leather suit of armor, he packs his two sets of black armor away for future use. He then puts back on the enchanted jewelry he looted during their adventures here, mostly his pendent and putting those metal braces over top of his leather arm guards. He didn't have any hair to try and tame so once he's done putting on his jewelry, he heads back to the campsite with his satchel and waits for the others to return once they're finished.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	9. Arc 1: Chapter 9

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Neji**

"I can't believe there isn't an entrance!" Naruto grumbles while Dart nods in agreement as Kiba echos the fighter's sentiments. "How the heck are we expected to search this tower if we can't get in it?"

"I believe we should be looking for a cave." Shikamaru finally says after a few minutes of silence. "I studied some of old historic scrolls that my clan has of unusual missions that required a different outlook from the norm. In said scroll, it talked about this manor that had this tunnel dug from the basement that leads out into a cave, it was more then likely an escape tunnel." The cleric continues and he muses about this before nodding in agreement.

"So we're looking for a cave and hope that there's a tunnel leading into the tower." He muses and Shikamaru nods in agreement. "I think we should split up in groups of three... err... four?" Hinata suggests before pausing to look at Dart and then at Ino since said evil horse seems to be dogging Naruto's heels since the black furred catman agreed to get better tack for Ino.

"So then, how do we split up?" Naruto wonders. "Well, I'm pretty sure that Kiba and Shikamaru shouldn't be in the same group." Choji says. "On that line of thinking then neither should Hinata and Neji, so I guess we have to decide who goes with who." Shikamaru remarks and he frowns but doesn't disagree.

"Ok, how about Shikamaru, Neji, and myself with Ino?" Naruto suggests and Dart frowns before brightening to say, "That means I'm with Hinata, Choji, and Kiba!"

"Those groups sound fine." Shikamaru admits and it seems that nobody had any objections to the groups Naruto is suggesting, causing Naruto to stand a bit straighter with a satisfied glint in his eyes. He turns to study the Nightmare, unsure if they could trust said evil horse, after all, Naruto's the one who defeated said monster using totally physical means, even if Naruto cheated by transforming into a Minotaur.

He could still recall the list of injuries Naruto suffered from his battle with the hell horse, he really hopes that Ino still has a healthy respect for Naruto or else the horse would use this opportunity to betray them when things get tough. _I wonder if we should have Naruto give it a beating right now just to remind it of its place. . ._ He muses with a slight frown.

"Now we just need to know which direction each group will take." Hinata muses and he presses his lips together, not liking the idea of being part of the group that has said fire monster.

-)**T**(-

He hums as he pauses before bending down by the ground to study it. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Ino pause behind him, waiting for him to give the all clear. Taking a large pebble, he tosses it onto the ground and watches as a trapdoor opens just a foot away from the trigger. "I guess we're on the right track." Shikamaru muses and Naruto hums in agreement.

With that, they moved forward. It didn't come to any of their surprise that they slowly began to encounter more traps. "This is getting ridicules!" Naruto growls as they watch as a large mace head swings back and forth before them.

Within seconds, some sickly looking energy flies to the base of the huge mace. The magical bolt hits with a hissing sound. With a minor snarl, he turns to find Naruto's ears were flat against his skull with his tail flickering back in rapid motions. Naruto casts the same spell four more times, two of the four spells misses, hitting rocks, but the two that hit help the first spell eat away at the likely old wood that the huge mace is made out of.

"Acid Arrow, I didn't know you knew how to cast it." Shikamaru says and Naruto sags slightly. "Yea, well, whatever." Naruto says in a dismissive shrug.

"Well, I guess it's my turn to give this a try." Shikamaru says with a sigh as he moves to the front of the group. Shikamaru takes three stones and within seconds, they glow briefly before returning to normal. Shikamaru takes a few seconds before throwing the first of the three stones.

The stone hits the wood with a great deal more force then he expected, causing the wood to creak and whine as well as disrupt the mace's path for a brief moment. Shikamaru then takes aim once more before throwing the second stone, like the first, it hits but not at the base sadly enough. The wood does creak but that's about it.

"Perhaps I should throw the last one." He suggests and Shikamaru hands the stone over with a nod. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he studies the base of the mace, it wasn't hard to see the spots Naruto's spells have eaten away at the wood. Finally feeling confident, he throws the stone with all of his strength, he watches as it flies through the air and hits a spot between two of the wholes.

The wood whines and creaks as it bends into the blow. The weight of the metal end causes the mace to swing the wood towards him and then it swings back. The wood begins to make snapping sounds as it whines loudly as the metal end of the mace continues to make the wood swing backward and forward.

"I think we need another three tosses to finish it." Naruto muses and with a sigh from Shikamaru, the cleric enchants another three stones. Once he has one in hand, he frowns as he watches as the mace continues to swing in its original path. Keeping his foot on one of the triggers, he takes aim at the base.

The stone flies through the air, hitting in one of the three acid holes. The wood whines as the stone snaps through some of the remaining wood within the damaged area. Palming the last two stones, he aims once more and throws the second and within seconds, he throws the last one, the rapid succession of the two stones hitting within seconds of each other finally finishes snapping through the base.

The metal filled head hits the floor of the ground, sending dirt into the air while the rest of it lands on the floor with a loud thud. They just stare at the broken trap for a few seconds. "I can't believed it worked!" Naruto says and he nods while Ino gives an odd rumble sound before stepping to the head of the group, pushing through him and Shikamaru to do so.

He glances at Naruto before moving to follow the evil horse towards the trap. Within seconds, he hears Naruto and Shikamaru's boot thumps coming behind him. They finally come across what they've been looking for, a carved archway that likely leads right into the tower.

"We need to send something to lead the others here." He says and in the end, Shikamaru summons a Celestial giant fire beetle. After writing a message, handing it the the large beetle, Shikamaru says, "Take this message to a Monk named Choji, he's likely in the company of a Fariy Dragon, a warlock and a barb."

Within seconds, the beetle takes the message and then flies through the air, heading for the cave's entrance, leaving them alone before the archway. "So... if they don't show up do we continue on or head out to search for them?" Naruto asks.

)**-o-**(

**Dart**

"What the heck it that?!" Kiba shouts as they race away from a chained three headed beast commonly known as a Chimera. "It's a Chimera." He pipes in as he hovers over the three on the ground as they hide behind a large stone, blocking them from the monster's sight. The Chimera's middle head, the feline looking one, roars as the monster catches sight of him.

The blue scaled head of the dragon turns towards him and he shoots down as lightning shoots out of said head, snaking through the air to where he had been hovering. "I don't like it, not one bit." He says from his position on Choji's neck.

"Gee, you think?" Kiba snaps at him but he just shrugs, deciding to ignore the warlock for the time being. Another blast from the three headed beast hits their cover.

"Well, look at it this way, at least it's chained up." Choji says and he hums before moving to climb onto the monk's head to glance at the Chimera. He ducks hastily down when the monster once sends a blast in their direction.

"Are you going to stand by and let that thing pelt us with lightning bolts or are you going to create an illusion to help us kill it?" Kiba asks him and he allows his wings to fold up as he thinks about it. He hears Kiba growl but Hinata moves to place a hand on the warlock's shoulder, calming him.

"Please, Kiba, Dart's not all powerful. He's more of a scout then a fighter." Hinata says softly and Kiba studies her face before the Dire Werewolf grumbles out an apology as Kiba turns from Hinata. He smiles gratefully at her and she returns the smile before she looks away while taking out a thin looking knife.

He leans towards Hinata as she moves to the edge of their protection. He takes to the air and then lands on the ground before stalking towards the edge to see what Hinata is aiming at. A few seconds after he's staring out from behind their protective barrier, Hinata throws that thin knife, hitting the Chimera's goat like head.

The Chimera's three head cry out as one in pain, the knife embedded in the right eye of the goat head. As that head snap about, trying to dislodge knife but it's in there real good. The head of the dragon shouts, '_**Can't wait to devour you flesh!**_'

"That's so original." He says in his best sarcastic voice. "You mean that's a language?" Kiba asks and he shrugs his wings. "It's called Draconic." He replies while watching as the Chimera continues to try and get rid of the knife.

"I don't suppose you could, I don't know, try and reason with it?" Kiba asks and he snorts. "Chimeras only speak to issue insults." He informs them as he turns to glance at them.

"Well, at least we injured it." Choji says, trying to brighten the mood. "True, now we just have to kill it." Kiba agrees. With a few mighty flaps of his wings and he's off the ground.

He returns to perching on Choji's shoulder while Kiba, Hinata, and Choji think about how to go about doing that. In the end, Kiba moves to the head of the protection and casts Magic Missile at the Chimera. While that's going on, Hinata begins to sing a song.

As he turns to glance at her, he finds that the bard has vanished from sight. Climbing up Choji's head, he watches as two Hinata's, one real the other an illusion, charge at the Chimera while Kiba provides magical cover in the form of fireballs, frost, and just plain energy blasts. He snorts as he watches as the Chimera's attention is divided between Hinata, her illusion, and Kiba's magical assistance.

Giggling suddenly at an idea he has, he uses his magic to create more Hinata clones, a grand total of twenty were now circling about the Chimera, causing the Chimera to jerk back in surprised with the cat head snapping about the surrounding area while the other two head merely growl and snarl at the sight of them all. "Nice." Choji says approvingly and he puffs out his chest in pride.

As the Chimera begins to use his lightning breath to take shoots at said clones in hopes of trying to get at the real Hinata. "Too bad you can't trick its smell or hearing to make it harder for him to pin point her position, after all, it only has to listen to figure out where she is." Choji admits with a sigh.

He blinks as he turns to regard the monk of the group. "I'll give that a try at a later date." He tells the Half-Orc and Choji nods in agreement. "Too bad none of you have a bow." He says with a sigh, kind of wishing he was with Naruto or Neji since they did own such items.

"I think Hinata owns a sling shot, she just hasn't been practicing with it." Choji says and he hums as Hinata finally gets close to the far left head, the one that looks like a goat. Suddenly, the Chimera stops blasting randomly at the illusions about its vision as it likely smells Hinata's scent.

Within seconds, Hinata manages to slice through the tough skin of the neck which causing the two remaining heads to scream out in pain as blood flies about the air as the Chimera shakes its body. As the Chimera rears up and begins to lash out with its foreclaws, the middle head managed to bite down on Hinata's left shoulder before throwing her with as much weight as it could to the ground before it.

With that, Choji cries out a war cry as he charges right at the Chimera. As he takes to the air, Choji manages to grab Hinata's ankle and pull her away from the fury of the Chimera while Kiba finally finishes casting a large spell, one that causing paralysis. The Chimera drops and Choji takes Hinata's sword and hacks the two remaining heads until they fall to the ground, killing the Chimera.

"I am so drained..." Kiba murmurs as Kiba staggers towards them as he tries to shrug that off. "How's her shoulder?" Kiba asks and he moves down to examine the bite wound.

It didn't take long for Hinata to come too as Kiba finishes draining a healing potion into her mouth while they watch as the injury seems to repair itself so quickly, only the blood about the previous injury remains. As she stirs, ravens and crows were already circling overhead. Glancing over to the corpse of the Chimera, he watches as Kiba and Choji work to get the gem studded collar off the Chimera's necks.

"It's dead?" Hinata asks and he hums in agreement. "It is, Kiba managed to cast a paralysis spell and Choji beheaded the remaining heads." He informs her.

As Hinata raises herself up using her elbows, she turns to regard their fallen foe. "Are they really going to take those collars as loot?" The bard asks and he replies, "Looks like it, huh? So I guess that's a yea, they are."

As Hinata sits up as Kiba finishes wiggling off one of the collars while Choji continues to work on the last collar, moving it slowly to the cut area of the neck. Kiba shakes the collar a bit before trying to clean it by using his robes.

It didn't take long before he finds himself in Hinata's arms as she gets up off the ground. "Dart, don't dragons have breath weapons?" Hinata asks as she pauses after taking a few steps towards the other two.

"Well, I'm not sure that my magical breath would be much help..." He admits as he launches himself out of bard's arms. "Could you show us what it is at least?" Hinata asks and with a sigh, he takes a deep breath.

Opening his mouth, he lets go of the breath that he's holding, with it comes a beam of radiant lights streaming about the air where his muzzle is pointed. After a few seconds, the light show vanishes and he beats his wings a bit faster, slightly embarrassed about revealing what his magical breath looked like.

_At least Naruto and them weren't around to see it._ He thinks to himself as he doesn't met the solo female member of the party. Even though he's not sure what it is about Naruto that caused him to join the party, he did know that Naruto had a good sense of humor and surprisingly easy going, something not a lot of evil beings were supposedly like.

"Well, at least it can do some damage, right?" The solo girl of the group muses. "It's flashy." Choji calls out in hopeful encouragement.

It wasn't long before silence descends upon them as they move into the cave that the Chimera had been standing guard before it. Kiba summons a globe of light that lights up their path as they head deeper into the cave.

-)**T**(-

"I'm stunned by how many Gargoyles are protecting this tunnel." He says as he study the remains of the stone guardians that they've slain. Well over sixteen of the evil beings had attacked them for hours on end as they continue to walk deeper into the cavern.

There wasn't many dead bodies but that just means that few have made it pass the Chimera that has been stationed at the entrance of this tunnel. During the fights with the Gargoyles, he's been forced to use his breath weapon as well as some magic spells, spells that took a lot out of him. _There's a reason why I don't aid in flinging spells about like arrows or stones._

He can't wait to return to his home plane and to eat the fruit that grows from the trees that grow there. Sadly, during his travels with Naruto and the others, they haven't come across many fruit or berry bearing trees and bushes so he hasn't eaten his chosen staple since he left his home plane. He didn't blame any of the group for it, after all, they were on a quest searching for some relic, more then likely it's for some wizard or wealthy noble. He wasn't big on details like that.

"I don't like any of this." Choji admits as they take a minor break to recover some of their strength. "Neither do I, but we don't have any choice, we need to see where this tunnel leads. If it's a dead end, then we've a clear path back out of here." Hinata says with a sigh, he didn't care one way or another, after all, he's too tired to fly let alone track the conversation as he rides on Choji's broad shoulders.

"True, but I really wish there was something of value here in this tunnel, after all, if this was an escape tunnel, wouldn't they want some supplies when they flee from here?" Kiba muses after drink from a water skin. "You have a point." Choji says and Hinata nods in agreement. "A saddle filled with gold and such would be more then enough to help start a new life in a new place." Kiba adds, it's clear that the Warlock has given this much thought he notes privately.

As they were about to get up, something approaches them, something that's flying. _"Is Choji the monk here?"_ A buzzing voice chirps and Choji stiffens as the Half-Orc says, "I am Choji the monk."

Within seconds, a large beetle comes within the light of their torches and drops a note at Choji's feet before vanishing, leaving this realm for another. As Choji moves to pick up the note, he clings tightly to Choji's shirt since he didn't want to fall off.

"It's from Shikamaru, it seems they're lead panned out. They're waiting for us at a set of pillars." Choji says after reading the note. Kiba holds out a hand and Choji hands the note over, as the Warlock reads the note, it slowly dawned on him that they'll be hooking up with Naruto and that group.

He perks right up at the thought of Naruto, for some odd reason, he yearned for Naruto's company more then anything, which kind of disturbs him as it also confuses him. After all, Naruto didn't summon him and the goblins did eat that wizard who summoned him, right after said wizard put that thin bit of enchanted wire about his muzzle. He had tried everything to slide that bit of wire off of his muzzle but it wouldn't budge at all.

With a shake of his head, he dismisses those thoughts from his mind, since thinking such thoughts doesn't matter in the end, not when the effect is in effect. As the group get ready to walk back the way they came, something happens and suddenly, the ground under Kiba, Choji, and Hinata gives way.

After a few seconds, he manages to take to the air before the other members drop to the ground. Laughter could be heard all about them and two red dotes begin to glow. White light begins to grow from about the two point, it takes him a moment to realize the shape the white light has taken. "A giant's skull..." He says and feels a bit of dread at the sight of it.

_It's so huge!_ He thinks, suddenly very much aware of how small he is to everyone else. He eeps and darts behind the closes member of the party, which happened to be Kiba. "What the heck is that?" Kiba shouts as he hides behind said Dire Werewolf.

_**"Foolish beings! Did you really think it would be so easy as to walk out of that tunnel harm free?"**_ A male voice says once the laughter has died down. **_"Though you are the first to best the first lines of defense, I highly doubt you'll make it pass this one!"_** Once more, the laughter starts up as the room begins to rumble.

"What's going on?" He asks in a highly voice, fear grips his heart, causing it to beat faster then it usually does when he's not darting about in the air. "I think the walls are coming towards us!" Hinata shouts as the others get to their feet, he's sure that very soon, he'll know what it's like to be pressed in from all sides.

"I don't want to be made into a pancake!" Choji shouts and then tries to ram one of the stone walls before trying with all his might to keep that one wall from moving. It didn't take more then a few seconds before Kiba shifts into his hybrid form and tries the same with the other, opposite wall that's coming at them.

In the end, it didn't do any good and as the walls move to be about three feet between them, they suddenly screech to a halt. "..." Nobody knew what to say as a strange sound assaults their ears.

"I don't suppose you know how to make that sound stop, do you? I'm starting to get a headache from the pitch." He admits while Kiba has the palm of his hands over his ears, likely for the same reason as he has his forearms on either side of his head, not that it helps, after all, dragons don't have ears.

After a few seconds, the problem corrects itself as the two stone walls begin to return to their usual position. Once they were, the glowing effect on the skull vanishes, leaving them in the dark until Kiba creates an orb of light to light up the room. Hinata bends down and feels about the slightly sandy floor until she hums.

"What did you find?" Choji asks, moving to bend down in hopes of seeing what it is that Hinata's found. "I think I found why they didn't slam shut all the way." Hinata says and it takes a few minutes but Hinata moves some dust off of a large slab of stone that's about three feet in diameter with writing scratched on it.

Kiba reads it as he makes the sphere of light hover over the slab to get a better look at the script. "'Ye won't be gettin' out of payin' us that easily, ye scrub of a dirt wizard!' Signed the dwarves of Gravel company of builders." He moves to rest on Choji's shoulder as he studies the scratches.

"You mean dwarves were hired to build this cavern?" He asks and Hinata replies, "I guess so, but more importantly, if that's so then they must have left a way out as well." Then they glance at him and he stretches his wings in alarm as he glances behind him to see if there's something behind him.

"Dart, I don't suppose you wouldn't mind flying up there and trying to spot something about the opening, would you?" Hinata asks him and he cocks his head to the side as he considers it. "I guess. . ." He says and once that's said, he takes to the air.

It didn't take him long to find the opening and it's then that he noticed something some kind of metal ring by it. "There's a metal ring up here! If you have some good, strong rope, I think I can tie it about the ring!" He tells the three below him once he flies about a foot over them, entering back into the reaches of the orb's light.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"So we'll just mark our path with these arrows?" He asks, making sure he understood the purpose of etching such things on the surface of the stones at each fork that they pass. Ino snorts in annoyance, more likely due to the net trap she triggered from walking after before them.

They had gotten it off before she used her flaming mane and tail to set it on fire. After all, the scent of smoke would likely attract unwanted attention of what other beings live within these maze like halls. True, they've mostly come across traps, magical and otherwise, and he really didn't feel like continuing on without the others with them since they could run into a trap that reset itself while navigating about these halls.

"We've waited for them long enough, besides, we're not just marking our passage but any of the triggers we find along the way." Neji says while Ino gives her whole body a shake before she continues to follow them. He hears Shikamaru mutter an agreement with Neji's idea.

Then with a shrug and a sigh, he gives up trying to explain why he's got this really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach about what could go wrong with that idea. He decides to trust Neji and Shikamaru since one's a year older then them and the second one is a great deal smarter then he lets on, even though he's a very lazy kind of guy.

_Funny, that still doesn't reassure me in the least though._ He muses as he follows the two before him, Neji taking point since he's skilled at spotting traps while Shikamaru is good at sensing magic. The two of them made a pretty good team, making him feel more like a burden then an asset at the moment.

Folding his arms behind his head, he glances up at the ceiling, noting that somebody took the time and effort to decorate that part of the hallway despite the traps that make up most of the defense of this bottom level of the tower. It's agreed that most of the rooms they encounter would likely contain old and likely failed experiments since this tower likely belonged to a mage of some kind. Though that doesn't stop him from enjoying the painted ceiling over head.

The images painted on the ceiling weren't the type he expected to see in a place where the tiniest mistake could get you and your party killed for the animals that were displayed weren't in the process of getting decapitated or fighting in a death match with each other. The images hanging above them showed different places like mountain tops where goats, sheep, wolves, and other animals roam, an ocean filled with underwater creatures, forests that depict strange white horse like beings with a single horn growing from their forehead.

_They're kind of peace looking._ He muses as an image of a red dragon resting on top of their hoard appears over head, making him wonder if the owner of this this tower ever worked for such a mighty beast. He pauses as he notices how the tone of the painting has altered.

With a slight frown on his face, he glances about him, trying to think of why this part of the mural has changed. He feels Ino nudge him in the back but he just unfolds his arms and drapes one over Ino's head as he tries to spot the danger. "Hum, guys? Maybe we should turn back . . ." He tells the two while Ino pauses in trying to bite the back of his hand to perk her ears forward and snorts slightly as she stamps one of her fore hooves on the stone floor.

The two pause to turn to regard him. "What's wrong now?" Neji asks and then suddenly, something seems to appear right behind the pair, something feline like but with tentacles and they seem to be hairless. Within seconds, he's already firing off an arrow as one of those tentacles move to latch onto Shikamaru's back.

The pair duck as the arrow heads in their direction and the feline thing seems to vanish for a second before reappearing. "Displacer Beast!" Shikamaru says, naming the monster before them before the pair manage to get to their feet and bolt towards him as he fires off another arrow at the black starved monster. The thing only snarls in reply as the beast's green eyes turn to regard Ino for a brief second before it glances at them, as if trying to decide which of them to attack first while another one appears behind the first one.

"This isn't going to be easy, so troublesome." Shikamaru declares as he switches his choice of weapon, he twirls the two swords slightly before moving to the head of the group. The pair of Displacer Beast snarl at him as they get ready to pounce towards them as they shift their two sets of forepaws with narrow eyes that were glaring at him with a hint of hunger in their eyes while their pointed fangs bared at him.

Finally, one of them lunges at him and he slashes at said beast with one of his swords. The beast hisses out in pain but still attacks him using one of its tentacles. He feels his ears flatten on his head as the tentacle hooks slightly on his arm guard. As quick as he can, his other sword comes slashing at the Displacer Beast's hooked tentacle while his other moves to keep the fangs from getting into one of his heels.

As the beast's whole body phases out of existence, so does the part of the tentacle that had gotten caught on his arm guard. He kicks the beast in the ribs as hard as he can once the Displacer Beast returns to this plane of existence, the kick hits the eight limbed beast in the second set of forearms, forcing the Displacer Beast to leap backwards with a hiss. The Displacer Beast and him glare into each other's eyes while his friends and the other Displacer Beast battle it out behind them.

Suddenly, the Displacer Beast leaps into the air, he brings his blades before him, guessing that if he lashes out with them, the monster would only phase from this plane for a few seconds, just long enough for the blades to enter and exit its body. With quick reflects once the beast was too close to phase out, he manages to slice into the Displacer Beast's chest while the tentacles manage to find their way onto his back.

The blow he dealt wasn't fatal though as the monster yowls out in pain and anger as he lands on his back, forcing the hooks from the tentacles more into his back. He uses one of his swords to cut the Displacer Beast's throat just as Ino comes over to stump on the Displacer Beast's back, although it might have more to do with her desire to hit him in the chest then her desire to defend him from the monster's advances.

The hooves strike the back of the almost beheaded Displacer Beast, forcing the main body of the monster to fall to his right side. As Ino got ready to rear once more, he snarls at her as he meets her glowing orange eyes. With a snort, Ino turns and moves to the second dead beast, as he moves to sit up so he can remove the pads of the tentacles, he can hear something heavy falls to the ground.

Unsurprisingly, Ino's bitten a hole into the other monster's body and seems to be content to lap up the blood that begins to pool within said hole. Rolling his eyes at the sight, he get some help from Shikamaru in removing the hooks from his back while Neji seems to be content in examining the floor. "How did you know they were here?" Shikamaru asks.

He looks up at the ceiling as he answers, "I've been looking at the mural that's painted on the ceiling. It usually showed peaceful like scenes of beasts and monsters, but it changed to show a red dragon lying on its hoard in a volcano cave. The next picture showed a Nightmare trampling an elf to death, see?" He points to the picture that's above the section where the Displacer Beasts appeared.

"So it does." Shikamaru muses and he turns to glance at Ino, wondering if that mural some how is a warning to him about what his fate could one day be if ever Ino lost her respectful fear in his ability to kill her with his bare hands. With a frown, he stands up, wondering if he should remind Ino by beating her up when ever the mood takes him before he just sighs as he pushes those thoughts out of his mind.

Such course of action made him feel dirty, especially considering what he often suffers at the hands of drunken fools. While Ino is an evil horse who would likely betray him without a hint of regret, he just doesn't want to beat her up without a good reason. _If she ever attacked any of the others without being provoked, then yea, I would beat her up but otherwise, I'm just going to leave her alone._ He decides as he stares off at one of the blank walls with a slight frown on his face.

"Well, I guess we could try heading back to that fork and take the other hallway." Neji muses after a few minutes of silence hanging between them while Ino continues to drink/lick blood that is bleeding out of the Displacer Beast that Neji and Shikamaru killed. He turns to regard the one he killed before turning his back on the area where the pair of Displacer beasts appeared at.

With a sigh, they begin to head back the way they came, hoping that the other way would end better then this one. He does tense a few times as they pass by doors, he half expected them to burst open to reveal monsters or some undead. But his nerves began to calm down and he relaxes a bit, although it did take a bit before Ino finally caught up with them, it seems she wished to finish filling her thirst.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

"Geeze, they're not that subtle about it are they?" Kiba says as they stand before a very large broken mace. "We must be getting close." Choji says and Dart hums in agreement as the little dragon lands on the head of the trap.

"Look at that part up there took a lot of damage." She muses as she notes the bits of wood that's still nailed to the base. "Well, let's keep going." Choji says and she nods in agreement as Dart once more takes to the air. "I hope Ino hasn't managed to hold Naruto up." The little dragon calls out as he darts through the darkness of the cavern, heading ahead of them.

She can't help sighing at how energized the little fairie dragon is now that they're heading to join Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru. "He seems to recover well from his magical depletion." Kiba comments as they follow Dart at a slower pace.

"I think something got botch during the summoning. He likely feeds off of Naruto's magical energy, after all, Naruto rarely uses it to cast spells." She muses and Kiba gives her a startled look. "You mean he's not all here?" Kiba asks and she sighs as she nods.

"You see, Dart's suppose to have some silver flicks on his scales but as you see, he doesn't. Another thing is, he's eating way too much meat, according to some of the books Shikamaru has read, Fairie Dragons of his type are more into fruit then meat." She informs him and the Dire Werewolf sighs.

"I guess we really do need to find a way for Dart to return home as soon as possible since I doubt this is healthy for him." Kiba says with a sigh and she nods while Choji muses, "Maybe we'll find something in this tower, after all, a mage is suppose to have inhabited it, they might have left something behind."

"That's true, but, you have to wonder." She muses as they continue to pick their way through the rocky ground. "Wonder about what?" Choji asks. "How Naruto and Dart will react to having to say farewell to each other. They have gotten close after all." She answers.

"Oh." The pair of guys say and with that, silence reigns between them until they found the archway. "Holy crap! No wonder they knew we wouldn't find the entrance!" Kiba cries out in surprise and she nods in agreement.

They did slow but they didn't stop as they walked through the archway. They found Dart studying a symbol that's been carved into the wall, one that's there to point them in the direction of where they head in. "Does this mean they went that way?" Dart asks and they nod as one.

Within seconds Dart once more taking point as they trail behind the little dragon. "Looks like they've disable the traps as they went along." Choji muses as they walk over an area where all the wires have been nailed into the floor.

"Makes it easier for us to catch up." Kiba states with a shrug.

-)**T**(-

"Naruto!" Dart cries out and before they realize it, the little dragon shoots off like an arrow through the air, heading down the hall. "Dart!" She hears Naruto's voice calls out in joy.

"Gee, you'd think they haven't seen each other in months." Kiba states as they begin to jog through the halls to caught up to Dart and the other half of the group. Choji just hums in agreement while she mentally sighs.

"Hey you guys! Have you had as much luck as we had?" Naruto asks with Dart laying in his arms by his chest. Dart's neck is stretched out with his forelimbs just hanging on either side of Naruto's arm. Dart's tail wrapped about the upper arm of Naruto's other arm.

As they slow, they give each other looks before Kiba acts as their spokesmen. "We killed a Chimera, got attacked by living statues, and as we're about to pull back, and then ended up in a pit trap with moving walls meant to crush us. We only survived said trap because the commissioner of said trap tried to cheat a company of Dwarves."

"We got attacked by Displacer Beasts." Naruto muses and Neji and Shikamaru nod in agreement. "Naruto noticed a clue to tell if the upcoming part of the hall has dangerous traps." Neji tells them, causing Naruto to smile a bit before looking right up into the air.

She tilts her head up and blinks in surprise as she finds a mural painted on the ceiling. "How does that mural help?" Choji asks and Shikamaru explains, "Notice the 'happy' and 'peaceful' scene up there? Well, where we encountered the area that summoned the Displacer Beasts had a none forest image, it had a red dragon laying on top of its hoard in a cave."

"So you back tracked from that hallway then?" Kiba muses and Naruto nods while Shikamaru rolls his eyes. "Anyway, do you guys need to rest or should we press on?" Neji asks after glancing at the softly snoring Dart who's sleeping close to Naruto's chest.

"I wouldn't mind a short break. We haven't stopped since we left the cavern we were investigating." She admits and Choji nods in agreement while Kiba looked a touch rebellious about this suggestion. "Troublesome, we can't continue until Dart's out of Naruto's arms anyway." Shikamaru states, putting an end to the argument.

)**-o-**(

**Shino**

"So, they're all in that tower now?" Anko asks him as she hands over a bottle of tea. "I'm sure they've met up by now." He says as he works to get the lid of the bottle open.

"Think this one will have the item? I think Lord Hokage is getting a bit antsy considering how long they've been within the game." The often loud and brash woman muses. "If its there, it's there." He states calmly, they've had this conversation about eight times since the group arrived in the area of the tower.

Suddenly, Anko tackles him and within moments, he finds himself hanging over her shoulder as a smoke bomb explodes. "Damn it, I thought they'd wait a bit longer before making their move." Anko curses as she keeps roof hopping with two pursuers tailing them, pursuers that lack headbands.

"What is it that they want?" He asks and Anko answers, "It's likely they were paid to destroy the game board, despite the fact that more then a few high ranking heirs are in the game alone with their target."

"And who is their target?" He can't help but ask. "I'm sure a bright lad like yourself can figure that one out." Anko replies as she bounds about over the roof tops this early morning.

)**-o-**(

**Root Underling**

"Now to destroy the demon." He says and the other members of his unit nods in agreement. As a minor fireball hits the game, he can't help but feel satisfaction in a job well done, that is, until he notices how the fire seems to be sucked into the game, leaving it undamaged.

"**_Chaos you crave, so chaos you have earned._**" A deep, masculine voice states in a calm manner. "**_Evil defines you, chaos powers you, blood sustains you._**" The voice continues and they tried to move but something keeps them rooted to the ground.

"We're only doing our jobs! The demon has to be killed! For the good of the village!" One of his men stutters out in their defense.

"**_Judge not others less you be judge yourself._**" The voice points out and then suddenly, a small ball of blackness is hovering over the game board. "**_Evil you be, chaos you bring, your shape and race I shall take and in return, a new shape and race I give you._**" The voice states as the ball of energy suddenly expands into a large ring with a scene of a forest.

With that, they all try to move as something slowly pulls them towards the game board. Suddenly his whole body seems to become numb, as he glances at his unit, he finds each of them undergoing a transformation into something hideous. It didn't take long before he realizes he's also undergoing a transformation.

"**_Seek redemption or be forsaken!_**" The voice says before they're floating in the air as they float towards the open portal. "Please, mercy!" A voice calls out but before the voice could answer, they land in a forest.

"We're doomed!" One of their number exclaims.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

With the now awaken Dart hovering over head, they finally start down the other hallway to see where it leads. He can't help but be relieved that they were all together, although he did wonder where Ino has taken off too, but figures she's likely returned to feast off of that other Displacer Beast. Although he wouldn't put it pass her to find someway to stir things up for them.

After all, they haven't really found much in the way of monsters as they walk down these halls and since this is a dungeon, especially one of the seven place where the item they're searching for can be located, it's a given that there's got to be a lot of powerful monsters just waiting for them to cross their paths.

_Though, it's more then likely that they're just either hiding in the rooms we're passing or they'll be summoned by a magical trap on the floor._ He muses as they pass a door. "So, how come we're not exploring what's behind those doors?" Dart asks as the peacock green dragon comes hovering over his shoulder.

"Because there's likely gruesome experiments hiding behind each one." He answers and Kiba snorts. "There might be treasure behind them too." Kiba remarks as Kiba stops walking.

They all stop walking after a few seconds. "I don't care what's behind that door, I'm just sick of being bored!" Kiba states and as Neji moves to stop the warlock, Kiba's already at said door with his hand on the door knob. "Don't!" Neji hisses at Kiba but it's too late, a slight sound of metal hinges signaling that the door is now open.

"See? Nothing's going to come out and attack us!" Kiba says and then pushes the door open to prove his point. _And they call me deadlast._ He thinks as a roar emanates from said room.

"Ooh! Let me see!" Dart says as the little guy quickly moves to the open door as he draws his two swords out of their sheaths. "It's a pride of Dragonne!" Dart tells them as more then a few snarls and roars sound out.

"You just had to open that door, didn't you dog breath?" He growls at Kiba as he moves to the door to take on the first of the Dragonne who were likely coming to rush out of the room in hopes of escaping their prison. A slight flash of orange coming towards him causes him to slice the air before him out of reflex.

As light hits the Dragonne before him, he gets a better look at the monster as the beast lashes out with its forelimbs, it's claws heading in his direction. He manages to evade those claws and he tries to force the beast back by pressing forward with his attacks. Some of his blows nick the scaly cat but other then a bit of blood being drawn, it doesn't seem to do much harm to the Dragonne.

It didn't take long for more of them to make an appearance either. As he moves more into the room, out of the corner of his eye, he spots Choji and Hinata coming to flank him with Kiba and Shikamaru standing close to the doorway, getting ready to fling spells at these dragon cats. He hasn't a clue where Neji vanished too though.

With a slight shake of his head, he focuses on the attacking seven Dragonne. As one of Dragonne leaps into the air, coming at him with its wings fully stretched out, he manages to hold one of his swords level so that when the Dragonne tackles him, the sword is pushed through the beast's chest, killing the beast within seconds. It takes all of his strength to push the beast off of him as well as get his sword out of the chest.

He stays ducked down as he hears Kiba and Shikamaru cast their spells, waiting for them to take a breather before standing up to aid Choji with one of the three Dragonne that were focusing on attacking him. Hinata's doing pretty well, dancing about the Dragonne attacks as well as managing to stab it doing so. Slowly, they manage to kill the seven Dragonne and once they're dead, he glances about for Dart only to find that his little friend wasn't about.

"Dart?" He calls out and Hinata echos with, "Neji?" "Over here!" Dart calls out and glancing at the others, he moves deeper into the room. As he draws closer, he spots a few candles alight with Dart fluttering about the bookshelf in an excited manner.

"There's spell scrolls here!" Dart says in a joyous tone and a questioning glance at Neji, who nods in agreement, causes him to sigh. "It's safe!" He calls out to the waiting members of the party.

"Anything useful?" He asks as he moves to pick up one of the scrolls resting on the table. "There's one that dismisses a summon creature back to its home realm." Dart answers, his eyes sparkling. It takes him a few seconds to connect to what this could mean for them.

"It could send you home." He surmises and Dart nods in agreement. "I see." He says as calmly as he could even though he's experiencing a storm of mixed emotions. "I don't want to go home right now, but after our adventure is over." Dart says and that oddly enough, puts his mind at ease.

"I guess you don't want to skip out on a good adventure, huh?" He remarks in a teasing tone and Dart hums in agreement as he nods his little head. "Troublesome." Shikamaru says with a sigh as the others finally get close enough to hear what they're talking about.

"Like we need a runt like you around." Kiba remarks and Dart gives the Dire Werewolf a glare before sticking out his tongue. "Real mature." Kiba says before sticking out his own tongue.

He snorts in amusement as Neji hands one of the scrolls over to Shikamaru so that their cleric can take a look at them. "Should we just pack up all of the books and scrolls to look at them at a later date?" Hinata asks as she moves to examine the bookcase while Choji moves to study the collection of skeletons that were about the other side of the room.

"Why not, it's not as if we'll ever be able to fill these sacks." Kiba remarks, reminding them that as long as the item can fit through the mouth of the satchel, it's no problem hauling around. "There's some strange looking daggers over here." Choji calls out as they began stuffing the books and scrolls into their bags.

Glancing at Shikamaru, he moves to check on these daggers. "Some are enchanted." He tells Choji after studying the collection and using a detection spell on them. "Concerning where we are, that's not surprising." Choji remarks as the monk picks up one with a silver blade.

"True, they were likely used to harvest organs and what not from dead monsters to be used as magical ingredients. I wonder what other monsters and items we'll encounter." He says as he picks up another dagger, one with a strange purple blade with an obsidian handle.

After examining the dagger, he leaves Choji with the daggers, it wasn't long before Neji and Kiba are with Choji, likely picking out a new dagger to use as a weapon. He hands the dagger over to Shikamaru who examines it with a bit of interest. With a sigh, the cleric hands the dagger over and once having it back, he puts it into his sack.

"I think that's everything." Hinata says from her position at one of the now empty book cases. "Let's go then." Shikamaru states as the half-elf puts on his belt before heading towards the door. With a shrug, he follows Shikamaru with Dart flying over head as the others follow after them.

As he enters into the hallway, they find Ino standing to the right of the door, giving them a look over before she turns and begins to move down the hallway. Pausing, she turns her head and nickers at them to follow her. As they share glances, Ino gets impatient and paws the floor with a hoof.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru states as they move to follow the Nightmare back the way they came. He wonders just what it is that Ino's found that she wants them to follow her. "Where are we going?" Kiba asks him after matching his steps.

"Where ever she's guiding us too." Hinata muses and he nods in agreement with that observation. After a passing a few doors, Ino finally stands before a door, giving them an expert look before nickering at them.

"I guess she wants us to open that door." Neji muses dryly and they all glance at each other before Hinata moves to open the door. As the door opens, they all tense up, waiting for something to happen.

After a few minutes with nothing happening, Ino snorts and walks calmly into the room, Dart follows soon after. With a shrug, he presses through the others to enter into the room. As a orb of light follows him into the room, he finds Ino breaking into something. Glancing away from the Nightmare, he moves to see what else resides in the room.

Another thing he can't help but notice is the smell that lingers in the room as well as the dirt that covers the floor. "It's safe!" He shouts before moving to the back part of the room.

Something lets out a screech and another an answering nicker. As he frowns, the lights in the room suddenly turn on, giving him a very good view of what's standing in the stalls. He can't help but stare at the many stalls that line the back, but what really grabbed his attention were the horses that have the heads of birds as well as the wings.

He counts four of those, one of this white horse with a feathers as its mane, then to the far right, he can't see much of what's resting there. As Hinata and Kiba come towards him, he moves to the right to see what else is in the stalls. He finds three bird cats and then two Howlers, the rest of the stalls were empty though there is a metal plate hanging on two of the empty stalls, one that reads Nightmare and another that reads Unicorn.

"Do you think we'll be allowed to take them?" Hinata asks from her position before that most horse looking mount. "I think we can since I think they count as loot." Kiba states, leaning by one of the beams next to one of the bird faced horses. One of the nearest of them lets out a strange whistle sound, almost as if its agreeing with Kiba's observation.

"Don't really matter to me, after all, I got Ino and I think she does fly through the air, I just never bothered to see if she will with me on her back." He admits as he leans on the door of one of the Griffons pens, not facing Kiba and Hinata at all since he's busy staring into the eyes of said Griffon.

"Well, I wouldn't mind riding this one." Hinata states, he guesses that she's likely stroking that white one's head. "I'm going to call you Sora." Hinata says softly but he heard easily enough, after all, he's not human at the moment so he has a different range for his senses.

"Naruto! Call off Ino! We'll be needing to take meat with us if we're going to take flying mounts!" Neji shouts at him, causing him to blink and to turn his head to see what Neji's harping about.

"Ino! Get your greedy muzzle out of that cabinet right now!" He bellows as he begins to stalk over towards the Nightmare. "We killed some Dragonne in that other room! If you're hungry, go eat them!" He snarls and Ino snaps her head up before backing away from the meat cabinet.

Ino and him stare into each others' eyes, in the end, Ino is the one to break eye contact with a slight snort before shying her head to the left. As he watches, she moves to stand by the door. Dart sighs before coming to perch on his shoulder with his tail moving to coil about the back of his neck.

"Now the troublesome part." Shikamaru says, he turns to find that Shikamaru is moving away from the tackle cabinet. "Which of them should we take." Choji muses as the monk goes through the different harnesses and saddles.

He moves towards the tackle cabinet, recalling a promise he made. It didn't take him long to find an enchanted golden harness or the matching saddle. Within seconds, he finds that the hanger that holds the matching set are called Tack of Weightlessness.

Getting a thoughtful look on his face, he moves to the spot where there's a minor bookshelf within the cabinet where the tackle is stored. Ignoring the discussion going on with the others, he picks up the book and skims through it for the description of the tack he wants to use. On finding the page, it reads:

_Tack of Weightlessness is an experimental set of items that should lighten the load that a mount carries. Thus allowing for flying mounts to carry heavier riders or those wearing heavy armor. The enchantment is based off of a modified version of the set of spells on the common bags of holding, the ones that allow it to weight less despite the number of items that is within the space of the bag._

The article goes on to give the instruction on how to cast the modified spell as well as suggesting how to anchor it to the harness and the saddle. He glances over towards Kiba, wondering if he should just give the book to the warlock or ofter to sell it to him. With a shrug, he dog ears the page before putting it into his bag as he moves to take the enchanted golden tackle to put on Ino.

Ino perks her ears to face him before letting out a sigh at the sight of what he's carrying. "I hope this fulfills that promise I made." He says and Dart hums in agreement. Ino snorts but stands still as he strips the old leather tackle off of her.

"Hey! Who said you get that for loot!" Kiba shouts and he turns his head towards the angry Dire Werewolf. "How about this argument, I'm not taking one of those as a mount so I get to pick something that's close to the value of a trained flying mount." He tells the warlock with a slightly smug look on his face.

"It's enchanted! It's worth more then they are!" Kiba points out and with a sigh, he takes out that book and flips it to that page he dogged eared. "Here's the enchantment that's on it. It even goes to give the spell to apply as well as what to use as an anchor on the harness and saddle." He says and Kiba takes the book from him, his eyes glued already to the open page.

With that, Kiba begins walking towards the tackle cabinet with one hand digging through his own satchel for the gems needed for the anchoring part of the spell work. He glances over to the others and found that they're busy getting to know their new mounts. He raises an eyebrow at the selection they've picked.

"They picked the Hippogriffs." Dart muses and he hums softly, kind of surprised he hadn't already identified them as such. "So, Neji's getting the one chocolate brown with yellow eyes, Choji's taking the gray one with mouse brown markings, Shikamaru's taking the mouse brown one with reddish brown markings, and that leaves Kiba to take the one that's honey gold with chocolate brown markings." He muses as he picks out the different variations among the four Hippogriffs.

"Hinata's taking the Pegasus, kind of contrasts Ino, huh?" Dart muses and he nods in agreement as he briefly glances at the sole woman of the group. Hinata's busy dumping as much grain and fruit into her satchel as she can.

"I guess we'll have to head back to that other room to butcher those Dragonne to get meat to feed them and her." He says, glancing at Ino at the mention of 'her'. "I guess." Dart says with a sigh, clearly not liking that idea.

"It's because there's kind of like dragons, isn't it?" He asks and Dart nods in answer to his question. "But you need the meat." Dart says and he nods. "Although, I guess we could start going through the other rooms and killing what's in there for more meat." He says with a sigh.

-)**T**(-

"Look at this place! It's like a huge explosion went off in here!" Choji says once the lights of the room turns on, allowing them to see what's within the room.

The room's walls were decorated with black and then gray spots in the upper parts of the walls and the ceiling. The wood cabinets that line the walls were blacken and on top of the surfaces were a light coating of ash. Luckily, what's likely in the closed doors of the cabinets were spared from the explosion, it's likely they'll find potions, spell ingredients, spell scrolls and books, and maybe jeweled ritual items that they can sell if they ever encounter another merchant.

"At least there aren't any monster about." Hinata muses and he nods in agreement with Hinata on that. And so, they each drift to different sections of the room.

Once he's at his chosen spots, but before he begins to look through the shelves that line the wall, he asks, "Hey Dart? Could you head over to Shikamaru and see if we can't camp out in this room? After all, it doesn't have the stench of blood that comes with us killing a monster that resides within said room.

With a nod, Dart lives up to his name and darts to where Shikamaru is, flying over the gathered mounts that have taken to standing in the middle of the room. Once he sees that Dart is talking with the Half-elf, he turns his attention to what lies within the cabinet before him.

)**-o-**(

**Shino**

As they arrive back at the roof top, their pursuers long since abandoned the chase, they find the game undamaged with a new set of figurines featured on the map.

"So, the map's defenses got them." Anko muses and he nods in agreement. "So it would seem. There doesn't seem to be any character sheets for them either." He points out once he glances about, looking for said sheets in hopes of knowing who their attackers were so they can name them in their report to Lord Hokage.

"They're also black, I think I read something about that in one of the manuals." Anko muses and his gaze turns to the pile of manuals that help them understand what's going on within the game's world even though they can't aid the party much. "Too bad we weren't able to capture our pursuers either. I would have loved turn the tables on them." Anko remarks as he moves to settle down for a short nap.

"Taking a nap?" The purple haired Jonin asks in a humorless tone. "Rest is needed to keep one alert and clear thinking." He tells her and she just shrugs. "Well, enjoy your nap then. We did have a busy night." Anko says and with that, she picks up one of the manuals to reread, leaving him to take his nap.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

"It's a scaly water going cat." Kiba surmises at the sight of the Sea Lion pride laying before them. "So it would seem." He hear Naruto say in a dry tone with Dart giggling in agreement.

Kiba growls throatily but Naruto doesn't glance at the irradiated Dire Werewolf. He mentally shakes his head at their childish antics. "I wonder if they'll attack." Hinata wonders, reminding them that they might be attacked by said beasts, the very ones they're observing.

A splash sounds which is soon followed by another. Before their eyes, the Sea Lions were slipping into the water, clearly ignoring their presence within the large, coastal featured room. "You know, I think I prefer this room over that aviary that we encountered a few doors ago." Choji admits and Kiba snorts.

"Of course the fact that we're not getting chased by that four legged bird helps, huh?" Kiba points out and Shikamaru sends the warlock a minor glare. "This coming from somebody who's summoned Imp abandoned him." Naruto remarks and causes Kiba to flush in embarrassment.

"You know, this whole tower not only seems to be one single level but a menagerie of beasts, magical or otherwise." Shikamaru muses, mirroring his private thoughts back when they were in that grassy plain that contained huge herds of strange scaly beasts with frills and three horns. "Which means that we might begin to find beasts from outer planes." He points out and Dart sighs.

"If that's true, then we might want to get while the going is good. After all, there might be monsters residing within those other rooms that we'll be out matched to face." Hinata admits worryingly. "I guess we should head back to that entrance since its unlikely we'll find it here." Naruto says with a sigh.

"But we might find more stuff!" Kiba whines. "And we might very well face something we can't kill." Naruto reminds the warlock, Kiba glances around for support before sighing in defeat. "Fine."

With it now decided, they head out of this room, he strokes Shinwa's feathery mane as he waits for the others to go ahead of him with their mounts following close behind them. He glances over to the now moving water that's now moving slightly naturally. With a shake, he makes sure that his Hippogriff is out before closing the door.

As the talons of the Hippogriffs and the hooves of Ino connect with the stone floor, they make a soft clicking sound, something that he's getting pretty familiar with as he follows the group from behind, confident that none of the traps have been reset.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	10. Arc 1: Chapter 10

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"It's great to be breathing fresh air!" Dart declares after doing a bunch of fancy flying that involves dive bombs, barrel rolls, and loop-de-loops in the air. He sighs in a wistful fashion at the peacock green, cat sized Fairy Dragon with a lighter shade of green for his eyes.

"Show off." Kiba growls and he glances at the Dire Werewolf warlock before switching his gaze to Kiba's Hippogriff, Kuusou. "Jealous that you might not be able to mimic his flight abilities with Kuusou?" He asks as innocently as he can.

Kiba sends a glare his way as well as a soft growl escaping from him before Dart swoops down and forces Kiba to duck, not before Kiba gets swatted by Dart's tail. As Kiba rubs the back of his head, Dart easily lands on his shoulder and within seconds, the little dragon's tail is about the back of his neck while Dart seems to be very smug with himself. He smiles a bit as Kiba begins muttering curses and insults aimed at Dart's linage and what not.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Hinata, who seems to have gone slightly red before she turns her face towards Sora, the Pegasus she's chosen as her mount. Shikamaru mutters, "Troublesome." Choji's turns his attention to checking his Hippogriff's, Bi's tackle and Neji just rolls his eyes at their latest argument.

"Any way, at least _my_ Kuusou can fly. Unlike that hag you've got." Kiba says smugly and Ino makes a really strange throaty sound that reminds him of the sound people make before they spit. Ino snorts and he can hear one of her hooves pawing at the ground, he can only guess at how insulted she feels at Kiba's statement.

Kuusou's feathers raise up for a few seconds before they return to their usual position once Ino stops pawing the ground. The other Hippogriffs glance in Ino's direction for a few seconds before they go back to glancing about the surrounding area. "You do realize that on some planes, Nightmares do have the ability to fly." Dart reminds them and he muses as he recalls Ino's demonstration of her flight skills, "But can she fly with me on her?"

Kiba scowls and Ino moves up to him with Dart resting on his shoulder. The gold harnass and saddle look fairly good with the combine light from the sun and Ino's own flaming mane and tail. Dart shifts his weight as he gets into the saddle.

Once he's settled, Ino begins to get into a high step walk and slowly, they raise into the air. By the time they're about the height of the cavern's entrance, it's safe to say that Ino could fly with not only him on her back with Dart perched on his shoulder. "I guess the Tack of Weightlessness works, huh?" He muses and Ino whines in agreement while he feels Dart nod in agreement.

After a few circles over head of the other five members of the party, Ino moves back down to the ground. "Well then, I guess that we can fly to the third dungeon." Choji muses and Neji nods in agreement. "And hopefully, we'll be out of here after searching the next one." Neji says and a lot of different people sighed, him because it reminded him that when this is all over, Dart and him will be separated forever.

)**-o-**(

**Anko**

_Looks like they acquired flying mounts, although I didn't know that Naruto's mount can fly even though it lacks wings. Very interesting, too bad it'll have to remain in the game._ She muses as she watches the happenings going on with the group of Academe students.

A quick glance at the scattered black figurines, she leans in to give them directions on one of the other dungeons, although the one she's picked out has a minor town about its base. It was farther along then another two but she figured they might get more information by asking around that town about the keep dungeon.

_And maybe I can get them to bring home samples of the local drinks, after all, there's got to be a few taverns in that town._ She muses with a smirk on her face as she feeds directions down at them as they tried their hardest not to appear to be looked up at her.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

After a full day of traveling viva the sky, they managed to land in a nice looking spot that's not too far from from a small pond. Dart's already moving about the few shrubs looking for berries while Hinata's moving about setting traps, leaving the cooking to Naruto while Kiba moves to get firewood. Choji and himself are busy feeding their mounts, although Hinata had feed Sora before she left, after all, she's the one carrying the grain that the Pegasus needs to sublimate her grazing.

Once done rubbing down Shikamaru's Yume, he glances at said Hippogriff's own. It seems that Shikamaru is almost done praying to his God for spells. "I wonder if he's list grew." Choji wonders as Choji brushes Ino, carefully to avoid the directly flaming parts, mainly Ino's mane despite the fact that it doesn't seem to burn anything that's moves into it.

"Are we talking about Kiba or Shikamaru?" He inquires and Choji replies, "Shikamaru, well, Kiba too I guess, although I wonder what happened to Kiba's pet." He frowns as he tries to recall the last time Kiba tried cuddling his bag.

"I think Kiba's pet escaped either into the bag of holding itself or out into the wide open spaces of the cave." He tells the Half-Orc before answering the first question. "I think we all gained a few levels during our time apart and together."

"Think so?" Choji asks and he nods as he explains, "You guys were busy fighting your way through that one cave while we were busy trying to find and disable any traps we came across. Each took certain skills to get through and luckily, each party had those skills. Each party had certain individuals with very animalistic abilities." A subtle way of mentioning Kiba and Naruto's overall animal appearances.

Choji snickers softly with his eyes glittering with amusement at the reference. "Then each party had their healers," hinting at Hinata and Shikamaru's roles as healers. "Finally, the specialists, you with your ki attacks and I with my ability to fade into the background." He says and Choji nods as he turns to give Ino a soft pat on her should before the monk moves away from the evil natured horse.

With a shrug, he studies Yume for a few seconds before he heads to the campfire that Naruto started using some wood they have packed away within their satchels for places that are barren of any kind of firewood. As he begins to polish his new dagger, he glances up as Hinata arrives in camp with Kiba, both carrying a string of rabbits, although under Kiba's one arm is a bundle of wood.

"Here you go, Naruto, try not to burn them too badly." Kiba says as the Dire Werewolf hands over his string filled with rabbits. Naruto gives Kiba a minor glare but doesn't reply to Kiba's baiting. With a shrug, Kiba sits down and takes out his spell book to read.

As Naruto finishes gutting the twelve or so rabbits, the humanoid black tigerman begins to skin them and Kiba begins to pull out odd things from his bag of holding, likely getting an idea of what's what for spell components. "I wonder what would happen if I use..." Kiba murmurs softly to himself, trailing off as Kiba gets a thoughtful look on his face as the warlock studies a few strains of hair.

With a minor shake, he focuses on taking out jewelry to polish. As he does so, he mentally makes a list of which bits he wishes to keep and which he should sell at as soon as he can find a buyer. _Visiting that town might be a good idea in more ways then one._ He muses as Dart finally returns as Naruto's trying to get the roasting pans filled with their meal into the fire, trying not to burn himself as he does so.

As the Rakshasa growls in annoyance as he holds his hand after some of the black fur almost caught on fire. With a snarl, some invisible hand moves each and every roasting pan into the fire. The growling stops as the sound transforms into a slight sigh as the Naztharune type Rakshasa gets a slight smile on his face at the sight.

Rolling his eyes, he returns to polishing pieces of his loot while it appears that Dart's decided to hang out behind Kiba, likely reading over the warlock's shoulder to memorize some of those spells that were written in said spell book.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	11. Arc 1: Chapter 11

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"I fold." A disgruntled Halfling he's mentally named Copper growls after receiving three cards from the human dealer, a man missing his left eye which gives rise to the name he's mentally calling One Eye. Nobody at the table has traded names, so he's had to come up with a list of mental names for each card player at the table.

Although, he's seen at least three drop out and replaced by another three fresh players since he found himself at the table. He studies his cards as the other seven players either calls, raise, or folds. _Well then, I can't tell if this is a good hand or not. Should I risk it?_ He wonders as he stares at his hand that's filled with the same suit but different numbers like two, three, four, five, and a six. Then he glances at his earnings and decides its worth the gamble, after all, he's seen somebody else with similar hand win a hand, so maybe this is a winning hand as well.

"Call." He mutters as he takes the right amount from one of his coin stacks to toss into the money pool that's in the center of the table. "If you say so." The one he's labeled Cat says, he's sure that Cat's a half-elf because of the angle of his cheeks and the shape of his eyes, although it would help even more if he could see Cat's ears. . .

Once more they go around the table only this time, most called instead of either raising the bet or folding. Finally he finishes adding more of his gold to the pool and within seconds, it's time to reveal their cards. He frowns as he studies some of the others, trying to pick a target to read to understand the coming reaction to his cards.

He decided on One Eye simply because the human is unlikely to have much in the way of mental defenses. He lays his hand down and within seconds, people were cursing. Once that's done, he attempts to read One Eye's surface thoughts.

_"Damn it! He's got Straight Flush!"_ The human thinks and he moves to rake in the pool of coins and what not, mainly a gemstone or a few silver coins, things that would be of the same value as what the wager is. "Damn you, Dragonbreath." Growls one of the two Dwarf's at the table, the one he's taken to calling Grumpy because he's meaner in temper then his cousin, a cousin he's mentally calling Builder since that one often muses himself by taking his coins and making little buildings with them during the times he folds, waiting for that round to finish so another round can start.

He shrugs off the nickname, he's taken the form of a Dragonborn because he spotted a few around the stable he passed that's about a mile or less from the town. He, of course, left Ino and Dart with the group when Neji and himself were picked to scout out the town as well as get rooms at one of the local inns. During their arrival into town and his arrival at this table, Neji and him split up with Neji telling him flatly to keep a low profile.

As Copper begins to shuffle the cards, he begins to organize his winnings as others signal for more drinks for themselves. He is currently still drinking his first glass of wine, not their cheapest sort but also not the tavern's most expensive sort either. With his free hand, he picks up his mug and takes a small amount into his mouth before setting the cup down while his other hand continues to create small stacks of coins.

Most of those at the table were here to take their chances with the local keep that's said to be filled with your typical things, coins made out of gold, silver, etc, jewelry, large gems, enchanted weapons and armor, rare magic scrolls, and the list goes on and on. He highly doubts he'll get a straight answer about if they'd find the Sceptre of Ending at the local dungeon. _That or I'll draw attention to the fact that we want it._

And so the game continues, at times his stack of coins would dwindle down over the course of small rounds and then he'd refill his stacks by winning large pool of coins and gems. He got around to ordering something to eat as well as getting a refill on his cup of wine while some at the table left once they got broke or were a few coins from being broke, allowing for fresh players to join the game. As it becomes late, it's soon just Builder, a human woman with the looks of a priestess, and himself were still playing, Builder's cousin Grumpy had left to go finish business, leaving Builder to remain at the table.

He spots Neji leaning on a wall with a slightly irradiate look on his face, likely disapproving of what's going on at this table. The tavern's business is slowing and other then a few passed out drunks, the only fully awake customers were at the table with him and those waiting for the other members of the table like Neji and Grumpy. "I don't know about you two, but I think this will be the last hand for tonight." He tells the Dwarf and the woman.

The woman pauses in dealing the cards to glance around until she spots two armor wearing people, one looks to be some kind of knight and the other one is younger then the first and is wearing leather armor, likely the knight's squire or something along those lines. "I think this will be my last hand as well." The priestess admits as she returns to dealing out the cards.

"Aye, if ye two are a leaving then it'll be my own last hand before I turn in for the night." Builder states as he collects his cards. He hums as he picks up his own hand off the table while the priestess puts down the card deck before picking up her own hand from the table.

As he sorts through his hand, he sighs mentally, he's got four of a kind with all of them being kings with a lonely two. He raises by tossing in a gemstone into the pool, Builder raises by adding two gold coins, the priestess calls, signaling that its his turn. He merely calls and with that, they now move to discard their cards. He discards the two while Builder discards two cards and the priestess discarding two as well.

He doesn't raise but Builder does and so does the priestess. After it being raised about five times, two by Builder and three by the priestess, they finally show their hand. The priestess has a straight, Builder has three of a kind, but he wins with his four of a kind. As he pulls the pile towards him, the other two dump their stacks into their money bags. They depart before he's done putting it into his bag of holding.

"You could have lost all of your money." Neji states in a matter of fact tone. He shrugs, after spending so much time with the rogue, he's come to figure out when Neji's dangerous and when he's not.

"I just entered into the tavern and was waiting for my drink when this guy comes up to me, looks me up and down before asking, 'You got any money, scaly?' And I nod and before I know it, the guy drags me to the table, tells me to set down a pile of coins before I even thought of objecting." He tells Neji and once he glances at the bill, he leaves a few extra coins on the table as a tip before they head out of the tavern.

"How long have you been playing?" Neji asks with a frown. "Well, let's see, I got in here around noon time, hoping to listen in on conversations around me when I spotted a couple of adventurers heading into said tavern. I guess I've been at that table for a pretty long while." He admits as they begin to head down the road, he tries to be subtle about seeing if they're being followed as they go.

Neji gives him a hard look before shaking his head and taking the lead. With a shrug, he just follows, wondering what crawled up Neji's butt since he last saw the guy.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

Ever since he entered into this town, small city really, he's noticed how in some of the alleyways, there were people laying in wait in said shadows. _Thieves._ He thinks, not really caring that Naruto has discarded a hooded robe and looks to be some type of lizardman, the type they passed by as they walked pass that stable.

And so, after reminding the disguised as one of those lizardman to not draw attention to himself, he heads off, away from Naruto to find out if there is a thieves guild in this part of the world. He just might learn more about the item they seek from one of the local thieves since there must be some kind of document about the artifact. It's only common sense to keep such tomes around if only to have some kind of reference at the value of the object.

_There!_ He thinks after spending about an hour patiently drifting about the large, open parts of the town where crowds of people like to gather. As the young Halfling he spotted tries not to run into anyone, it takes a moment for him to see where she's headed before he begins to jog towards that spot, careful not to enter into the large crowd as he does so.

As he moves through the alleys and the back streets, he can't help but glance cautiously about as if it wouldn't surprise him if he's been spotted by the locals. He brushed such feelings off as being influenced by the world at large, it might also be the reason why he never felt dirty when he began looting those goblins when they first came to this world.

After all, they really were children with most of the party consisting mostly of nine year olds and him being a year old then them. Not only should they be having nightmares about killing those goblins but they should have felt grossed out by the very thought of touching the dead. He blames it on just being in this world and the fact that their characters were 'adults', giving them some emotional protection to the violence this world has to offer.

He slowly pauses and glances slowly about, trying not to make it seem obvious that he's checking out his surrounding. Then he finally spots at least two people shadowing him. _It's times like these that make me with I still had my original set of eyes._ He thinks privately to himself as he once more stalks after the little thief who's likely isn't even aware of the complexity of this situation, just heading back with the loot.

As he rounds the corner, he finds he's not the only one after said the kid since he arrives to find the runt being held up in the air by somebody wearing a mask about the lower part of their face. "I can't! They'd kill me if I do!" The kid squeaks out and the masked party slams the little thief into the back wall of a building.

"Then I'll start slow and make you wish I just kill you quickly!" Snaps the other rogue as a knife comes out of its sheath. Mentally, he curses as he's torn between interfering with torture session that's about to happen and heading off to find somebody else to follow.

In the end, one of those shadowing him stalks back to interfere for him. "Drop the kid." The newcomer says as he leans on the wall behind him, waiting for the mask wearing rogue will drop the kid so the kid can run to find another member of this town's thief guild.

As the newcomer, who's a member of the Catfolk if he's forced to guess, begins to walk towards the masked rogue, the newcomer does a classic rant about how wrong is it to threaten a kid even if the kid is a thief. He spots a good spot to hide in and as everyone's attention is on the masked rogue and the Catfolk, allowing him to slip by, hopefully, unnoticed. He also can't help but notice the differences between Naruto's race and this example of Catfolk before him as he once more wills himself to be part of the shadows around him.

Unlike the Rakshasa race, these Catfolk look more human instead of like actual tigers that are able of walking around like a man. Their ears are on the sides of their head, they lack having fur covering every part of their bodies, a tail, and their nails were more like sharpen, pointed nails then actual claws. _More like they're humans that had parts of their bodies magically altered to mimic feline traits._

As the masked rogue casually tosses the brat behind him, it takes him a few minutes to realize that the kid's been knocked out and it's unlikely that the street rat will be waking up soon either. With a shake of his head, he ghosts down the alley way, hopefully down the way the kid would have gone.

-)**T**(-

As he checks the fifth tavern in search for Naruto, he can't help but feel that sending a scouting party was a useless waste of resources as he did manage to make reservation at an inn after getting into conflicts with other parties as they, too, had hoped to question the local thieves guild for any information on the local keep. Some of them thought he's a local, even though they learnt otherwise, they still tried to shake him down to see what interesting things he's carrying on him. It also seems that a few of them just wanted to thrash him on the very principle that he's a Drow.

As he mentally growls curses at his attackers that he's encountered throughout his time in the town, it took him a few minutes before he realized why the lizardman at the gambling table seemed familiar. He soon finally pins point why that is as he examines the cloths with a bit of interest. It also takes him a few seconds to remember when Naruto transformed into his current form as well.

A bit of the tension he feels ebbs now that he's with a friend, it didn't take him long to order a few drinks as he waits for Naruto to quit the table, hoping that Naruto hadn't used money from his bag of hold to remain at the table. _It helps that I had enough foresight to leave it with him in the first place._ He admits as he begins to nurse his cup, not caring what's in it as long as it helps him forget what's happened today.

Finally, as there are only two other players at the table, a Dwarf and a human priestess, it seems that the game is in its final stages. He doesn't get a refill of his drink and allows the woman to take his cup away. Soon, Naruto wins the finally round and as Naruto pulls the pile of gold with a few gemstones towards him, the other players head off once their gold is in their bags.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	12. Arc 1: Chapter 12

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Dart**

He can't help but feel left out as Naruto and Neji walk away from the camp, heading into the small city that exists in the shadow of the keep. He did get a chuckle seeing Naruto dressed up in one of Kiba's robes. From his perch on tree branch, he waits until the pair have vanished from sight before glancing at the others. Seeing them busy, he takes off to go berry/fruit hunting since its been a while since he last tasted the sweet goodness of an apple and what not.

Sniffing around, he found a small cluster of blue berry bushes that had an early harvest of berries. Once he fills his stomach with as many berries he can hold, he begins to lick off as much of the berry juice as he can from around his muzzle. With a hum, he takes to the air, enjoying the feel of not just having a full stomach of berries but also the feel of the sun warming his scales.

And so, he flutters about the forest, doing as his name means, darting about the forest, investigating every notch and cranny about the area. On finding a pond, he hovers over the water's surface, watching frogs, water beetles, and little fish swimming about in the water's depths. Then, suddenly, he dives right into the water and then begins to swimming around in the pond, cleaning dirt from his scales so that he could find some oil to polish his scales up.

_It'll be nice to gather admiring glances of strangers again._ He thinks as he finally leap out of the pond. A few beats of his wet wings allow him to land on a rock without needing to walk over the sandy edge of the pond. Stretching his wings out, he takes a few seconds looking at the color coming off of his scales.

_Why did it have to be green? Why not some shade of blue? Or red?_ He thinks, it really didn't help matters that even his eyes were green. It makes him long for when his scales were iridescent, reflecting a whole rainbow of colors then a single color.

Soon enough, his scales were finished drying and he takes to the air, heading for a spot where he hide a small jar of oil he had hid in Naruto's bag after their last dungeon. He did some exploring when they were fast asleep, confident that the Hippogriffs would alert them to any danger. It had taken some time but he finally found a few items that he wanted and had been fortunate enough to sneak them into Naruto's bag of holding.

He considers himself lucky that Naruto never found those few items that he had stashed in the bag. _Or maybe he did but didn't care that they were there._ He muses and concerns it for a few seconds before shaking his head to dismiss those thoughts. After all he had scented oil to rub over his bodies.

-)**T**(-

He heads back to where the others were after hiding the jar of oil. Unsurprisingly, Shikamaru is on his back, staring up at the blue sky with Choji joining him. Kiba seems to be reading through the scrolls and books that he picked up while Hinata seems to be practicing with her flute.

Hovering for a few seconds, trying to decide between announcing his return or just taking a nap on Choji's chest. With a sigh, he decides to take that nap since he rather not have Kiba mock him without Naruto around to defend him since Kiba doesn't seem to be affected by his remarks in the very least. Although if Naruto's there to agree with them. . . Then Kiba takes offense to his remarks.

Once he's landed on Choji, he does a minor circle on Choji's chest before laying down on Choji's chest. As the movement on Choji's chest slowly rocks him to sleep, he hopes that he'll be able to find more berries to eat for supper.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

After practicing for a few hours, she finally grows bore with her flute. A quick glance over to Choji reveal that Dart's napping on Choji's chest. It takes her a few seconds realize that some how, Dart's scales seem to have a shin to them, causing the peacock green to shine even greater then usual.

With a sigh, she begins to stretch as she gets to her feet. Her back feels stiff and it wouldn't surprise her if one of her legs had fallen asleep while she had been practicing her flute. She walks over to Sora, her Pegasus, to pat him for a few seconds before looking up at the sky for a few seconds before biting her lower lip, torn between taking Sora out for a ride and remaining on the ground just in case Naruto and Neji arrive before night falls.

With a glance over at Kiba, she moves to where the tackle is hanging, waiting to be used. As she puts the saddle carefully on Sora, she pauses to study the halter before turning her head just so to look at the nearest Hippogriff near her, which is Choji's Bi. _I guess its a good thing that none of the others beyond Naruto and myself do not have a bit on our bridle._ She muses before equipping said bridle on her mount, Sora.

Once that's done, she glances around the camp, taking note of the fact that Ino seems to be munching on something. . . something with a bushy tail. . . With a sigh, she looks away from the Nightmare as she climbs into the saddle on Sora's back, careful of Sora's wings since she doesn't want to injure them. Within seconds, she has Sora moving into a walk.

With a knicker, Sora soon enters into a high walking gate as they head into the surrounding forest for a ride. She can't help but enjoy the feel of power as Sora's muscles move under her. She can't help but think that Sora is enjoying this as much as she is since she hadn't directed Sora into anything other then a walk.

After a while, they arrive back in camp just in time to see Kiba starting to make supper, they each had been responsible for making their own lunch today. As Kiba mutters soft curses as he sets up the stand for them to make stew. Dart woke up and came to perch on Sora's back as she takes her time rubbing the Pegasus down and then brushing the furry parts of said Pegasus.

After a while, Kiba's cursing subsides once the array of stuff has been set up over the old campfire. At the moment, Kiba's busy filling up the soup pot with water from a water skin. "You'd think he'd be quieter about setting it up, huh?" Dart muses and she smiles at the little cat size dragon.

"I think he's just angry that he's being pulled away from his scrolls to make our meal." She tells Dart and the faerie dragon sighs at the mention of scrolls. "I wish I had access to my hoard, I had so many interesting trinkets there that could help us with finding this treasure." Dart says and she blinks before looking up at the little dragon, kind of surprised to learn that Dart actually admits to having a hoard in the first place.

"I didn't know Fairy Dragons make hoards." She says and Dart blinks before flashing her a grin. "All dragons collect things to hoard, it's just that, I prefer arcana ritual books, magical scrolls, and enchanted jewelry then collecting every pretty coin or gemstone that I come across." Dart says in an elitist fashion, complete with snout in the air.

She smiles softly at the thought of Dart having a standard of any sort. "I see. I kind of wonder where you learnt to cast that frost spell but then, I had been under the impression you were taught it by a visitor from another plane." She admits to Dart and the little dragon blinks in surprise.

"Err, well, ah..." Dart can't seem to put his thoughts into words. In the end, Dart just sighs and keeps silent as he watches her finish rubbing and brushing Sora down. By the time Kiba's finish chopping up the last bit of ingredients, she finishes with Sora.

Picking Dart up off the back of Sora, she drifts over towards the spot she had been sitting at when she was practicing her flute. Within seconds, Dart takes to the air after she sits down. "So, do you think Shikamaru is napping or communing with his god?" Dart asks her, causing her to glance over at Choji and Shikamaru for a few seconds.

"Who really knows with him. Though, I think for now, he's just napping." She answers and Dart hums thoughtfully before the little dragon heads off to check. "He's asleep!" Dart calls out in a sing song tone and she just shakes her head while an image of Shikamaru within her mind says, "So troublesome."

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"How long are you doing to keep that _robe_ on?" Neji asks him, clearly empathizing on the world 'robe'. "Well, I guess I could take it off, after all, it's got Kiba's stink all over it." He muses as he glances down at the black robe he has over his armor, purposely mistaking what Neji is asking him.

"You have scales." Neji states flatly and he flashes a grin at the rogue. "So I do, so I do." He replies and as Neji scowls while speeding up, he frowns into the back of the Drow, wondering what's going on with Neji.

"So. . . Are you cranky because you killed somebody or are you cranky because you didn't kill somebody?" He asks and Neji's shoulders stiffen as does Neji's neck. "I don't want to talk about it." Neji snaps after a few seconds and he sighs, trying to guess just what kind of bug crawled up his ass.

A slight shake of his head, he dismisses that kind of thought and tries to look at it from a different angle after a few minutes of silence. _Ok, lets see, Neji's a Drow and if I remember correctly, they're not the nicest race to life. They love Chaos, self-serving interests, and live in a woman run society._ He reviews thoughtfully.

_I think Neji got ganged up on by a group of Drow hating beings._ He deduces after a few seconds. He sighs, he knew what that's like, being beat up upon by a large group of people who bare some kind of grudge against you, only this time it's because Neji's a Drow.

After all, he can't be a demon since he's never had a craving for human flesh, blood, or their souls. Not that those thoughts help him much since for all he knows, in the coming teenage years, he just might mature to crave such things. _Still. . . It's likely his first time ever experiencing such a thing._

"You know, some people can be real jack asses, especially when they decide to lash out at a target that hasn't done anything to them." He finally gets the courage to say. "It's worse when they've had something to drink too. It makes them even more ready to take action, especially if they're mean drunks. It's sometimes sad that they need some kind of excuse to act on their anger, their resentment."

As he stares down the path, memories of such things playing out within his mind, memories that are the whole reason why he's had way too much practice running away. It's one of the reasons why he took the class of fighter, so he can finally do something other then running away and he'd get training for his body as well. He might not lash out at his tormentors but he would feel a whole more secure just having the skills needed to fight back if he really wants to.

"You didn't do anything to arouse their anger, you just were the one who happened to remind them of their defeats, of their fears of defeats, of their friends' deaths..." He continues, not really seeing a forest before his eyes but a very familiar street, one that leads to and from his favor restaurant. "You might have been able to take out a few of them, but what's the point? Especially when they approach you as a crowd, so many of them and only one of you..."

"How often does it happen to you?" Neji asks softly, causing him snap out of his thought. "Not as much now that I've got longer legs." He admits in his best joking tone.

"And here I thought you were a scattered brain blond." Neji admits with his face turned so that Neji can look thoughtfully at him. He blinks before feeling very uncomfortable with all of this. "Yea, well, you can't enjoy life if all you do is mop around bemoaning your past all the time. You won't ever make your life better by brooding about it after all." He states and Neji nods in agreement.

After that, they didn't say anything but for some odd reason, he get the feeling the tension within Neji has, for now, vanished. He feels happy that he managed to help Neji through the after-effects of his bad experience within town.

Soon though, he spots a fire and he calls out, "Hey you guys! We're back!"

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	13. Arc 1: Chapter 13

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"What the heck is up with you looking like a lizard?" Kiba asks as the group comes to greet Neji and him as they enter into their camp. "Well, I saw a small group of Dragonborn at this stable and thought, 'Why not?' So I transformed into my current state so that I don't draw any more attention to myself then needed too." He explains and then asks, "So, you think gold suits me or what?"

"You're an idiot." Kiba states in a matter of fact way. He only grins in reply to the Warlock's statement while Shikamaru just rolls his eyes and Hinata just sigh. "At least it's not green." Dart mutters, causing him to study Dart for a few seconds before deciding he doesn't want to press it with his little friend.

"What did you two find out?" Choji asks while they gather to sit by the fire. "Not much since I ended up spending the whole afternoon and evening at a card table playing poker." He tells those that stayed at the camp site while Neji and himself headed to scout out the town.

"I've come to the conclusion that there isn't a thieves guild working within the town since all of my attempts at locating it cause me to come into conflict with other parties doing the same." Neji says with a scowl. The others wisely took the hint and didn't ask Neji about said parties as well.

"So then, what did you learn playing poker?" Hinata asks after a few seconds. "Not much, there wasn't any chit chat. We didn't even exchange names or anything." He answers with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Then how come you spend most of your time at this table?" Kiba asks with narrow eyes glaring accusingly at him. "I think the rule is that unless you're broke, you're not allowed to leave the table." He says, taking a wild guess as to some kind of unspoken rule that hung about the poker table.

"And you couldn't fake being broke?" Kiba asks and he flashes Kiba a toothy grin as he nods in agreement. "What can I say? My luck was in, you know?" He says in a smug fashion since he now had a great deal more coin then when he entered the small city.

"I bet you sucked so bad that you cheated." Kiba accuses him and he huffs at Kiba. "How could I cheat? It was my very first time playing poker! I barely knew what kind of hands were winners and which weren't! I learnt by doing." He snaps at the Dire Werewolf, not liking the fact that Kiba thought him a cheat.

_Although I guess I could have used Detect Thoughts a bit more then just seeing if I got a good hand or not._ He admits while keeping his face in a scowl as he gets into a staring contest with Kiba. Finally, Kiba huffs and breaks eye contact, leaving him the winner of their mini contest.

"So we don't have reservations at an inn?" Hinata asks, causing him to turn to look at her before glancing at Neji. "I made them before I found Naruto." The Drow answers simply.

"I guess we should turn in for the night since we got a busy day ahead of us." Choji muses. With that said, everyone but Dart and himself headed off to sleep in their bed rolls, leaving him to put out the campfire. "So... Anything interesting happen while Neji and I were away?" He asks Dart as he watches as the remaining embers that were glowing begin to slowly die.

"Not much happened, Hinata practiced with her flute, Kiba was reading through his collection of scrolls and books, and Choji and Shikamaru were busy sky gazing." Dart says with a shrug. He hums thoughtfully before asking as slyly as he could, "And what did you do today?"

"Oh, you know, found some early blue berries, took a bath, and then oiled my scales." Dart says in a detached way before the little dragon realizes what he just said. "You oiled your scales? Vain much, Dart?" He says in a teasing way while Dart seems to groan.

"I just want to look my best for my public appearance tomorrow." Dart says in a defensive way. "Ah huh, I'm sure you're future admirers will be happy to know that you're meticulousness about your appearance." Teasing the little dragon even more, although he did wonder where Dart got the oil to polish his scales but decided to let Dart keep his secret.

"Anyway, you want to keep watch tonight or should I?" He finally asks, changing the subject. "I'll keep watch since I had a nice nap this afternoon. After all, you need your beauty sleep for tomorrow." Dart states in a superior tone and he just chuckles in reply.

"Well then, valiant sentry, I trust you this night with my safety and my life." He says before patting Dart on the back since Dart's wings are folded. "You say the sweetest things." Dart counters while fluttering his eyes at him.

Once he's finish preparing his bed roll, he lies down while still in the form of a Dragonborn. After all, he highly doubts that as a Rakshasa, he'd receive as a warm welcome as he would if he arrived as a Dragonborn.

-)**T**(-

While Dart, Choji, Hinata, Neji, and Shikamaru head to the inn to make sure that the reservations were still in effect for this evening, it leaves him alone with Kiba and their mounts. "Hard to believe that this might be the last time I ride Ino." He admits with a sigh, trying to have a non-hostile conversation with Kiba.

"Considering how much trouble she's caused, I'm so glad I'm not the one who's the focal point of her anger." Kiba says from on top of Kuusou. He just shrugs, not really bothered by Kiba's jab since the change in tune was that surprising since riding a Nightmare usually draws too much negative attention.

"You think we'll find it in there?" Kiba asks after a few minutes of silence while they patrol the small clearing, waiting for the others to join them. "You know, you could try doing a divination spell or ritual to see if we'll succeed." He points out and Kiba snorts softly.

"Yea, right, and alert everyone of not just our location but our intent?" Kiba remarks as the Dire Werewolf crosses his arms over his chest. "I guess, but it does make you wonder if anyone's ever come back from exploring this keep. And if they had, did they make off with it?" He wonders and the warlock just sighs.

"I doubt it or else Shino would have informed us otherwise." The warlock says to him. "You got a point, still, I wonder what kind of enemies we'll face when we head into the keep. I mean, who knows how many parties have dead in there." He admits, not looking at the warlock as he runs a hand through his black fur, after all, he didn't need to pose as a Dragonborn since he's not among those visiting the village today.

_Makes me wonder what will happen to Ino and them if we don't return._ He thinks as he waits for Kiba to say something in regards of his thoughts about previous parties. "I bet the locals know, they must keep track of who comes and goes." The Dire Werewolf admits with a sigh. "And fat chance getting a number from them." He adds and Kiba gives him a wolfish grin in response.

"So, you think you'll keep your transformation abilities?" Kiba asks, changing the subject. "I hope so, but then, I'm not sure if I'll still be able to transform into any of these races from this world and beyond." He replies and then counters, "I guess you hope to keep your condition, huh?"

"Well, yea, it would be so cool trying out my clan's special techniques in my hybrid or beast form." Kiba says, his eyes lighting up at the very thought. "And if so, you can bite your family to 'gift' them the same ability too." He points out, causing Kiba to blink before giving him a surprised look.

"I guess that just means you can't go biting ever guy you mean unless you want your condition to spread, huh?" He points out with a big grin on his face while Kiba's face reddens as his eyes get a stormy look about them. "At least I know that I can bite you with no problem, you damned tiger!" Kiba snarls and he gives Kiba a raspberry before getting Ino to speed up to out pace Kiba's Kuusou.

"You'd have to caught me, you mongrel!" He cries out as Ino's flames seem to grew in intensity as Ino's pace picks up. "Stupid rat-eater!" Kiba curses as Kiba tries to get Kuusou to catch up to Ino's strides. He just laughs as they begin to race through the surrounding country while riding on their respective mount.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	14. Arc 1: Chapter 14

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Dart**

"Well, that was entertaining." Choji muses dryly as they observe a brawl going on down the street as they wait for Hinata, Neji, and Shikamaru to come out of the shop. "I wonder what the fight is about this time?" He wonders from his position on Choji's shoulder.

"More then likely, some guy ripped another guy off." The monk muses and he sigh, privately agreeing with Choji on that one. "I wonder who's going to break it up. I'll put gold on some wizard or cleric." He says as he gives his friend a feral smile and Choji seems to smirk in reply.

"I wager three gold that a paladin or a fighter will break it up." Choji says and the tall Half-orc offers a finger. He places his clawed hand on it and they shake, after all, he's sure that Naruto won't mind lending him some coins if he lost. With the betting made official, they return to watching the brawl, waiting to see who will put a final end to it.

"What are you two doing?" Neji asks as the Drow comes out of the shop with a slightly sour expression on his face. "Just waiting to see who wins a friendly bet." Choji says while he doesn't say anything other then tensing up.

Finally, somebody wearing a robe arrives and begins to berate the one who's kicking the fallen opponent. He flashes Choji a toothy grin while the Half-orc just sighs. "I take it that Dart won then?" Neji muses and he can't help but nod. "Yes I did."

Soon after the brawl ends, Hinata and Shikamaru exit out of the shop. "Now that we have food and water, we're mostly all set for heading there tomorrow." Hinata muses and he hums.

"Are we going to sell the Hippogriffs and the Pegasus before heading into the keep?" Neji asks and Shikamaru shakes his head. "We'll use them to get to the keep, we'll leave them under an illusion spell that should cancel out after a few days have passed, if we don't find it in there then we can always reclaim them, if not, well I'm sure somebody who likely needs them will find them." The Half-elf says and Neji shrugs.

With that, they head back to the inn before he heads to get Kiba and Naruto. _Hopefully Kiba hasn't cursed Naruto while we were gone._ He reflects thoughtfully as he rides on Choji's shoulder in a pose that should cause people to automatically admire his magnificence.

After all, how often do these people get the chance to see an actual Fairy dragon?

-)**T**(-

As he speeds through the forest, he hums a song he heard from a pair of bards who were play for coins. He didn't have much of a singing voice right now but that doesn't mean he can't memorize the songs he's heard while traveling about this plane. Even if most of them came from Hinata, the sole female of the group and their bard, who's likely composing an song about their adventures while they're looking for this magical sceptre.

He's not sure why they're looking for it but it's an adventure and something to occupy his time before he returns to his lair, hopefully with some scrolls and magical trinkets as well. _Naruto's a fun guy, despite his race. Who knew that Rakshasa are capable of having a funny bone?_ He muses thoughtfully.

Soon enough, he finds Kiba and Naruto wrestling about on the ground with Kuusou and Ino waiting patiently by the two, although he didn't like the look in Ino's eye... but then, he never liked Ino. "I'm kind of surprised that you haven't transformed, bone breath." He says as he moves to hover over the pair, well out of their reach.

Finally, Naruto gets off of Kiba with a pleased look in his blue eyes while the warlock just growls mockingly at him as the Dire Werewolf gets to his feet. "I just didn't want to ruin my robes like I usually do when I transform." Kiba states in a surprisingly calm fashion.

"You could have gone totally canine and slip out of them." The black furred Rakshasa points out with humor sparkling in his blue eyes. "And hear you tease me without the ability to talk back? Not going to happen." The warlock says giving the humanoid tiger a glare which causes Naruto to shrug in reply.

As he's about to move to land on Naruto's shoulder, an arrow flies at him. He manages to evade it simply because he was already descending downwards. Naruto fires off three Magic Missiles and within seconds, the scent of blood fills the air and a sorcerer is revealed who's clutching his right shoulder, glaring spitefully at Naruto.

Kiba fires off a fireball and it hits the tree next to the sorcerer. He hears the sound of steel and glances to find Ino and Kuusou rearing as a Shift comes into view. Ino moves to attack the Shifter Ranger while Kiba's Hippogriff pulls away, unprepared for hostility coming from either of the two, Ino manages to hit the female in the shoulder, forcing the ranger to drop the bow.

Within seconds, the sound of something solid hitting metal rings out as Ino's hoof stomps on the sword that the ranger had once held in her hand. Ino whinnies and as he turns to look at the offending magic user, he finds that Naruto's already has a dagger pressed to the human's throat. "Why did you attack us?" Naruto asks in a very icy tone, not that he's complaining since if he hadn't began his descent, he might have an arrow in him at this very moment.

The crossbow lay forgotten in the sorcerer's hand, so much so that it fell from the injured arm that's connected to the shoulder. "Wanted to kill the Fairy dragon so that I can sell its parts. Do you have any idea how rare they are? Or how much people are willing to pay for even a minuet scale? We could retire with the gold that its corpse could bring in!" The sorcerer's eyes were a blazed at the very thought of the future he envisioned.

"It won't have worked any way, the wizard goofed in the summoning." Kiba tells the sorcerer while Kiba slams the butt of the staff that Kuusou had strapped to his saddle. He puffs out his chest in an offended manner but did agree with Kiba's assessment of his situation.

_I'm so bore of being green._ He thinks in a sulky fashion as he hovers close to the ground. "That wouldn't have been our concern." The sorcerer states in a semi-calm manner, not caring in the least about the dagger at his throat.

"How was I to know that the blasted Nightmare would assess in the attack?" The Shift says in a defensive tone, clearing speaking to the sorcerer then to them. "Ino's bitchy from the moment I met her and she'll likely still be bitchy long after I'm gone from this plane." Naruto says and he perks at that remark, filing it away to think about at a later date.

"Well then, what should we do with them now?" Kiba asks Naruto and within seconds, an evil smirk slowly appears on the fighter's face. Within a few flaps, he raises higher into the air to circle over head, curious about what's about to happen to the pair. Kiba seems to look puzzled before something dawns within the warlock.

-)**T**(-

"Shouldn't you have left their hands free at least?" He asks as he matches the stride of Ino's movement. Sure the pair had tried to kill him so that they can make a fortune off of his cooling body, but he really had to wonder how leaving the two of them naked and tied up was any better then killing them in cold blood.

"They likely have a third party member, if not, then what kind of ranger would that Shifter be if she can't cut through that rope with her claws or teeth?" Kiba says and Naruto nods in agreement. He still didn't know if that's right or not.

"It shouldn't matter if we robbed them of everything they were carrying, they were trying to kill a member of our party. Unless you wanted to die and for us to sell your corpse to a bunch of drooling magic users?" Naruto muses, glancing at him with his head cocked to the side.

"Err, fine, you two win. I just hope they don't try and steal back their stuff." He says, mixed feeling flood through him at the thought that the pair had been willing to avenge him if he had died by those two.

"But how will you explain where you got that stuff? I mean, you've got armor meant for the feminine figure." He says, feeling proud that he managed to remember that word instead of using woman, girl, and female.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Kiba says and he drops it so that he can help round up the other Hippogriffs and Hinata's Pegasus.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	15. Arc 1: Chapter 15

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"Back away from that arch, cat-boy!" He blinks before turning to look in the direction of the voices. He can't help but openly stare at the group of, who in in his mind he's already labeled as pompous asses. _You got to be kidding me... And here I thought the teme was a spoiled brat. Odds are this guy isn't the last of his family._ He thinks to himself.

A few feet to his left, Kiba snickers softly, he's pretty sure it's because of not just the look of the group standing around the brat but because of that name the boy hurled in his direction. "I believe the young master told you to back away." The most shining armored knight says in such a way that made it seems that just by talking to him that he's gotten his hands filthy.

He grins toothily at the group of twelve plus one bratty noble. "Last time I checked, I'm not on your pay roll, pasty face, so no, I will not be moving from this arch way." He says and then adds as an after thought, "Unless you can make it worth while by handing over some of your gold and silver."

"I want a share of that gold." Kiba muses and within a few heartbeats, the Dire Werewolf is standing next to him. He doesn't bother going for either of his swords, preferring to give insult them by showing how unconcerned he is about all of this since he's very confident in Kiba and his abilities at harming or killing the group before them.

Mr Shinny and Pasty face glare at them while the other knights begin to unsheathe their swords and ready their shields. "Vile beast! I'll see if I can't make something worthwhile out of your hide!" Mr Shinny says but makes no move to join the rest of the knights who are slowly advancing.

The bratling's eyes seem to be ablaze with anger and adds, "Filth such as you aren't even worthy of licking my shoes!" With a snort, he castes Magic Missile, within seconds the knights stop advancing to turn to see who he was aiming at.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were fond of the waste of space." He says in a mocking tone as he Mr Shinny turns a very amazing shade of purple. "He's the son of the local Duke! Do you have any idea of what will happen to us if his father finds out?!" Bellows Mr Shinny.

"Oh, so that's your game. I know a way to make it so you don't have to worry about that." Kiba says and Mr Shinny pauses to stare at Kiba in mild puzzlement. "Huh?"

"_Ixen'achthend_." Kiba declares and within seconds, their armor falls to the ground while anything cloth-like is burnt to ashes. They didn't even have a chance to cry out. "Nice, although it now seems like we're cooking hare." He muses to the warlock.

"You have to admit that I did solve their problem in confronting the Duke, right?" Kiba says and he nods. "That you did. And I solved our problem of trying to reason with them." He says.

"You know that we're so going to get disapproving looks from Hinata, right?" Kiba says after they stood there for a few minutes in silence. "Well, at least it won't be as bad as what happened a few days ago, when she found out about us tying the pair up after robbing them of everything on their person." He points out and Kiba adds, "That's right, we were only defending ourselves. You didn't even get a chance to draw your swords."

They share a sly grin, already agreeing on backing each other on this, which is unusual considering how often they argued during their adventures so far. "Any who, what do you make of the arch?" He asks as they turn their back on the cooling metal plates that use to be knight armor.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

As she arrives at the clearing Dart's guided them to, she notices the smell of cooking meat and it takes her a few seconds to realize that there is a pile of metal that looked like it had been armor laying on the ground. As the others move to talk with Kiba and Naruto, she moves to get a better look at the pile. Using her sword, she manages to move a helmet up to find the remains of a man burnt alive.

It takes her a few more seconds to realize that in addition to the knights there seems to be an extra person. "Kiba, Naruto, who were these people?" She calls out in her best controlled voice, already expecting that the thirteenth to be some kind of priest.

"Them? They were try to bully us into abandoning our discovery." Naruto says and Kiba nods. "Yea, they had their swords out seconds after we told them that we weren't leaving. It's so sad, they were the hired goons of some noble brat who thought he could play adventurer." Kiba adds, causing her to sigh.

"Threatened to make a fur out of my hide." Naruto pipes in and after staring at the pair of them, she really didn't know what to make of it. "I remember them." Neji says, causing her to glance at her cousin only to find Neji very pleased with the pair.

_Ok, I think we just discovered another reason to them from spending time alone together._ She thinks as she asks, "Aren't you even feeling a bit remorseful about what they did to them?"

Neji snorts before shaking his head. "Let's see, the brat claimed, and I quote, 'I don't like the way you looked at me.' end quote. Once he said that, he ordered his knights to beat me up simply because he didn't like the look of me and thought that all Drow should be hanged from the gallows." Neji says and she can't help but give him a startled look.

"So, no, I don't think the world will miss one little spoiled brat who's got no business out here." Neji sums up his thoughts on the matter. "Huh, who knew justice can be so swift?" Kiba muses and with a glance at the dead bodies, she had to admit, she no longer felt much pity for them.

"Isn't that the crest of the local Duke?" She asks as she notices a ring on a chain around the crispy skeleton's neck. "It could be, after all, nobles have a tenancy to breed with each other, don't they?" Choji muses and Dart asks, "Oh! Does it have any special enchantments? Any gems in it? Can I have the ring?"

"I doubt it since it didn't do the kid much good, huh?" Shikamaru says, not really glancing away from the arch. "How troublesome. We're not the first ones to discover this and likely won't be the last." The cleric says and as Dart flies to get the ring, she moves to see why Shikamaru thinks that.

"You sure?" Neji asks and the Half-elf nods. "See here? These initials are more recent cuts. I won't be surprise if some of these stones had the same done to them. No, this is a common start to this dungeon since it means that we're on the right track." Shikamaru says and her gaze flickers to the few moss covered stones that were about this clearing.

"I wonder if it were a guard tower or an inn." Naruto says as the black furred fighter moves beyond the arch to glance about the minor meadow that lies behind the arch. "If it were either of those, then we might find a road or something close to here." Kiba muses.

"Maybe we should have kept one of our mounts with us to survey this place from the air." Choji says and Dart seems to huff at that. "What am I? Berry Pie? I can scout this place out." Dart says and within seconds, the little fairy dragon heads off to do just that, only darting in a southern direction from their position.

"He's fairly sensitive about this, I wonder what's eating him?" Naruto wonders as her crush stares off at the point where Dart vanished from sight. "Who knows, it might be because of all those pies he ate while we were at the inn." Kiba remarks and Naruto sighs. "I guess..."

)**-o-**(

**Shino**

"I wonder what happened to that party that showed up before the others arrived to see what Kiba and Naruto discovered." Anko wonders as she takes a look at the map now that she has returned with drinks and snacks. Anko sits down before she opens up one of the bottles.

"I believe Naruto took out the leader and then Kiba created a huge funnel of flames to kill the remainder." He says to the special jonin. A few of his beetles that had been on Anko when she left slowly returned to him so that they could make their report on whether somebody was following her while she was on her way. It also verified that this was indeed Anko and not someone pretending to be her.

"Are there any monsters around them now?" Anko asks after taking a sip out of her bottle of green tea. "There are small clusters south of them but they seem to be walking in a strictly eastern direction. They might confront the group of Minotaurs that are digging around in a section of an old courtyard in under three days." He says after studying the map for a few seconds.

"I still don't get why we can't see into these keeps and towers once they're in. I just know I'm missing the real action when they're in there." Anko whines once more. There really wasn't much he can do other then sigh and try to ignore the jonin.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"Nice arm band, by the way." He says to Dart as they walk directly east in hopes that it'll take them directly to the local dungeon which is a keep that the locals like to call The Grave since nobody ever seems to return from the site. Dart blinks before looking at the ring that's around his forearm.

"Oh yea! I forgot I put it there." The little dragon says as they walk/fly at the rear of the group. It seems that Hinata wanted to keep Kiba and him apart so while he's at the back, Kiba's almost at point, mostly it's Shikamaru who's guiding them, which is likely because Shikamaru has 'talked' to the surrounding forest to find this path.

"So, what's going on between you and Kiba?" Dart asks in a casual way, causing him to turn his head slightly to regard the peacock green dragon with an eyebrow raised. "Not much going on between us, though I think we've got some kind of truce on at the moment, likely because we've run out of material to insult each other with. There's only so much you can do with breath, hide, and what not until it gets old." He tells the Fairy dragon.

_That and we're not really focusing on arguing with each other, after all, this is the first time we've ever face with the possibility that we could get into a conflict with other adventuring parties._ He thinks to himself, it seems that Dart seems to accept his statement for what it is and has relaxed slightly. "There's just so much tension going on right now, especially since we stopped in that village." Dart says thoughtfully.

"Things are a heck of a lot different then they were when we first met, Dart. Not only do we have to worry about the monster patrolling around the keep but we got to keep an eye out for other parties since we are not the only ones interested in what this dungeon contains." He reminds the little dragon and Dart hums thoughtfully.

"I wonder if I should fly cover over the group just in case somebody is trying to ambush us." Dart wonders and he scratches the side of his head. "If you want to but considering that Shikamaru seems to be taken over by some ranger spirit, it's likely he'd alert us if something is stalking us." He remarks and Dart giggles at the thought.

"He is being more active since we found that archway, huh?" Dart muses and he nods. "Yea, but like you said, there is tension hanging about the party." He points out.

Within seconds, Dart makes a bee line for Hinata. He glances over at Choji who's turning to glance at him before he once more watches as Hinata and Dart whisper between each other. Dart flying very close to Hinata's head, then Dart seems to pull away from Hinata before raising high into the air.

Dart seems to make a few throaty sounds while Hinata takes out her flute. Finally Hinata begins to blow into the flute. Dart begins by softly saying:

"Throwa, Throwa!  
In the darkness of the night,  
in the fury of a storm.  
With the silver mark of freedom  
a spirit was born.  
Throwa,  
they named him Throwa.  
Like the wind,  
like the wind strong and free!  
Throwa,  
they named him Throwa.  
To be king of the bush is his destiny!  
Throwa . . .  
In the secret mountain veil,  
through the mist and ancient trees,  
Runs the ghost like horse of browning,  
silent as the breeze.  
Throwa,  
they named him Throwa.  
Son of the wind,  
strong and free.  
Throwa,  
they named him Throwa.  
The king as the king he'll be!"

As Hinata's flute finally fades, he can't help but clap at their performance. "That was great! Where did you get that song?" He asks the pair, Hinata seems to be a bit embarrassed while Choji and Kiba echo his sentiments.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_

PS - I might do another song for the next chapter, so if you want a certain song to be done, leave a review with the name and hopefully a place where I can find the lyrics too. You won't believe how fustrating it was trying to find the lyrics for this song. In the end, I just found a vid and kept pausing and rewinding it to make sure I didn't miss anything. Hopefully you all know what show its from even if you don't like it.


	16. Arc 1: Chapter 16

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Anko**

"Looks like there's just one of those idiots left now." She muses as she turns her attention to look at the would be killers of those within the game. "Not too surprising since they did try to rob from that Kobold mine they passed earlier." Shino states in his usual calm manner while the group continues on their way to encounter that party of Minotaurs digging around the courtyard of the keep.

"Looks like he's going to be monster meat." She muses at the sight of a black winged figurine that has migrated into the area viva the river. The Kobolds weren't having much luck herding the final ninja to their ambush area, not that it mattered since the guy was heading straight towards the mini black dragon.

Once the lone ninja begins to engage the monster, she leans in close to get a better view. Within seconds, she has a better view of the battle, allowing her to make out the features of the masked ninja that had ambushed them a few days earlier. She can't help but smirk at how monstrous looking the soon to be dead ninja looked with that scaliness hide, snout, and horns framing the guy's face.

The guy notices him and glances up at her in startlement, thus distracted allowed the slightly larger black dragon to get a firm hold of the guy's throat and as the young dragon begins to shake its head, the guy's neck finally snaps, killing him. With a soft snort, she pulls away from the game board.

"Well, that pretty much finishes that ugly business." She admits to the academe student. She didn't expect Shino to say anything as she moves to the game box to study another aspect of the game, the character sheets.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"Hey, check it out! This statue got your looks!" Choji calls out once they've done looting and stacking the bodies of the party of Minotaurs they stumbled upon. "Heh?" He and most of the guys echo before they move to see what Choji has found.

". . . Why are the statue's hands backwards?" Hinata wonders and he blinks before glancing down at his own hands before frowning and glancing at the statue once more.

"I know, Naruto's hands are pretty strange compared to the rest of his race. I mean, Rakshasa are suppose to have backward hands! I thought he might have been a black Weretiger for a while there." Dart says and he turns to regard the little peacock green fairy dragon.

"Good to know I'm a freak among my race." He says dryly before sighing as he refocuses on his upheld hands with a deep frown on his furry face. He's glad that nobody said anything and he closes his eyes and imagined his hands similar to the statue's own.

He hears a minor grasp and opens his left eye before opening both to stare at his now altered hands. Within seconds, his hand then twist back to look the 'right' way. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices how the others were watching this and decided that was enough of that.

"Well, that solves that, right?" Dart muses and Choji nods in agreement while Shikamaru and Kiba move to examine the statue in greater detail. With a glance at Hinata, he moves with her to examine whatever else the Minotaurs had dug up, leaving Neji and Choji to set the bodies of their fallen foes on fire with Dart's breath weapon taking the place of flint and steel.

"Looks like a pig." He comments softly to Hinata as she holds a skull that shared the traits of boars that they spotted as they walked here. "Must be a Wereboar." Hinata says and he glances over to look at Kiba before shrugging as he picks up a tarnished arrow head that fell out of the skull.

"Must have been since I believe this arrow head is made out of silver." He muses as he hands it over to Hinata so that she can examine it. Other then the skull and perhaps some of the armor the Wereboar might have worn during its death, the rest of the stuff that the Minotaurs had dug up seem to be bits from statues, broken clay pots, a few copper oil lamps that even now have fire runes etched onto their surface, and other beat up to broken garbage, like little clay statues that likely represent tokens from priests and priestesses.

"It's a fairly big hole they dug, I'm impressed that they even managed to dig in such an organized fashion." Neji muses while Dart lands to investigate the junk pile that Hinata and himself were reviewing.

"I wonder if that means that they had an overlord or something." Choji pipes in as he glances to where the edge of the hole is closest to Hinata and himself. A quick glance at the pile of items, he gets up off the ground and then walks over to the edge of the hole.

"You think we should continue their operation just to see what they were up too?" He wonders out loud as he studies the various layers of the hole. He notices how Neji just shakes his head after frowning thoughtfully for a few minutes.

"How troublesome..." Shikamaru says before sighing and then continuing on by saying, "If this keep doesn't have it then we might be able to investigate this operation a bit more, but for now, our objective will be entering into the keep and trying to find what we're here to find."

"Sounds good to me." Kiba says, adding his two cents to the conversation. He just shrugs, not really caring enough to want to delay returning to Hidden Leaf, after all, he's starting to miss his favorite restaurant as well as his favorite dish, Ramen.

"I don't have a problem with that, just thought that maybe we could sell this location when we return to that town. After all, I'm sure loads of those other parties would love to poke their nose in this business." He states calmly and Neji glances at him before shaking his head as he turns his back towards not just the hole but to him as well.

With a flicker of his right ear, he turns to regard Hinata for a few seconds before looking sideways to regard Dart. He sighs softly before deciding to glance around the courtyard. "Perhaps we should wait until tomorrow to enter into the keep. That way we'll be refreshed when we encounter foes within its halls." Hinata suggests after a few minutes.

"I second that." Dart pipes in and Choji echos it. "Troublesome." Shikamaru admits with a sigh but doesn't counter it.

With that decided, he glances off at the forest before beginning to take out the wood from within his satchel. "I'm going to scout around as a Dire wolf." Kiba says as he comes over to drop his own satchel and spell component pouch onto the ground.

It didn't take long before Kiba's robe is the only thing covering him. Hinata had looked away as Kiba had begun to undress, after all, Kiba wouldn't want to ruin his cloths with the transformation into said form. Just as the robe comes falling to the ground, Kiba's body is already growing hair as well as having his bones beginning to rearrange themselves in a magical fashion.

"He's done." He tells Hinata and with a slight smile sent his way, she turns to regard the large black wolf that has spikes coming out of the back of his spine as well as at the forelimb elbow. With a flick of his tail, Kiba turns to regard Hinata before him. With a slight sneeze, Kiba turns and begins to bound away from them at a ground eating lop.

"You know, I wonder why he doesn't grow those spikes when he shifts into his hybrid form?" He muses while Dart just hums from his position on the ground by the pile with a tiny glass bead being held in his claws. "I think Kiba's happy that they don't." Hinata says and he flashes her a grin before he begins to take the wood over to the old campfire pit that the Minotaurs had used before they arrived.

-)**T**(-

"So, what did you find to eat while you were out roaming these ruins?" He asks Kiba once the warlock finishes transforming back into his most human form. Kiba sighs as he pulls his pile of cloths towards him and begins to get dress.

"I caught a few snakes and rats." Kiba answers as he stirs up the fire's embers. "You want to rest or do you want to take over?" He asks the Warlock after waiting for Kiba to finish dressing so that the Dire Werewolf could come to sit by the smoldering campfire.

"Nay, I'm pretty tired from getting chased by other parties that are camping out northeast of us and bit to our northwest." Kiba admits and he nods even though he can't help but raise an eyebrow on hearing that. It wasn't long before he's frowning once Kiba's taken his bags and were already using the larger one as a pillow with his arms under it.

_I shouldn't be surprised by that, should I be?_ He muses and as the fire embers finally die, he suddenly feels a slight chill in the air that causes him to shiver. And then his ability to detect magic goes haywire. Before he can cry out, his surroundings alter around him and within seconds, he finds himself on a floor with the scent of flower perfume hanging about in the air.

"Well now, aren't you an unusual one..." A feminine voice purrs out and as he gets to his feet, he can't help but raise an eyebrow at the sight before him. "I like being unique." He tells his summoner and a feral smile graces her lips. "Indeed."

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

As she comes too, she turns her head to the side before lazily opening her eyes. It takes some minutes before she finally begins to fully wake up. "Naruto?" She says out loud as she sits up.

After yawning, she begins to rub her eyes and shiver slightly from the chilly morning air. Giving herself a shake, she gets up while drawing the blanket more tightly around her as she glances around. Then nature calls and with a blush, she heads off to answer it, thoughts of the black furred fighter pushed out of the for front of her mind until she returns once more to stand by the fire pit.

She can't help but grow puzzled as she waits for Naruto to appear. After all, Naruto's been pretty reliable when it comes to taking his turn as sentry. "..." She turns as Shikamaru sits up.

"I can't seem to find Naruto." She tells the cleric who in turns raises an eyebrow. "He might be gathering fresh roots or mushrooms." Shikamaru says after stretching and yawning.

She doesn't say anything but something just doesn't sit well with her about this scene. With a sigh, she begins to use what's left of the firewood to create a fire, she's careful not to let the edge of her blanket catch fire as she tries to spark a flame using some kindling that's in a small box she put by the campfire during her shift as sentry.

Once the lick of flame was strong enough, she moves it under the arranged pile of wood, making sure to cast off her blanket before doing so. A few breaths from her and the fire roars to life. Pulling away from the flames, she pushes a strand of navy blue hair behind her ear as she kneels before the fire for a few seconds.

"See him yet?" She turns to ask Shikamaru once she gets up off the ground and the Half-elf returns from answering his nature's calling. "No, but that doesn't mean anything." Shikamaru answers before he stops to glance around as dawns light begins to break on the horizon.

And so, as she begins to get some tea ready, Shikamaru begins to rummage around within his bag for his rations since they decided to skip out on making a large breakfast for everyone, leaving them to either dry rations or to locate their own fresh fruit. No cooking was allowed since they didn't plan to hang around that long before a fire.

Slowly the others wake until only Dart's the one remaining fast asleep, something that was pretty unusual since the Fairy dragon always seemed to be a morning person, early to raise type as well. She can't help but bite the bottom of her lip as it slowly became obvious that Naruto has yet to show up.

"Shouldn't he be back by now?" Choji asks, glancing over at Kiba and then at Shikamaru. She can't help but feel dread as she thinks of all the things that could have happened to Naruto.

"If it helps, his scent seems to be a couple hours old, at least from the spot he had been sitting by the campfire last night. That's about as fresh as I can for his scent trail." Kiba supplies after flaring his nose and breathing in deeply from his position by the fire.

"You were the last one to see and talk with him, Kiba. Was he acting strangely?" Neji inquires and the Warlock frowns as Kiba thinks about it. "Nothing smelt funny when I arrived. He asked what I had to eat for supper and then if I want to take over his shift." Kiba tells them.

"Naruto's gone?" Dart asks with his head raising swiftly off the ground, likely listening to them talk and coming to the conclusion she had reached once Shikamaru had returned from answering nature's call.

"Seems like it." She tells the little dragon, deciding it's best that she's the one to confirm it. Dart gets to his feet and without bothering to take to the air to join them, Dart walks towards them on all fours with his wings folded neatly on his back.

"Well then, I guess we had better try and figure out how he vanished then, don't we?" Dart says once Dart is sitting by the fire not too far from her. They kind of glance at each other, each wondering how to do just that while she breaks some of her meal off and hands it to Dart as well as a cup of tea.

)**-o-**(

**Anko**

Once she's sure that every member of the party has eaten, that includes the tiny green dragon that's with them, she leans forward to give them an update about what transpired last night with the supposed blond demon carrier.

"Bad news, you guys. Somebody summoned Naruto directly into the keep. Not sure who but you can bet that its somebody with a lot of power, so if you want to get to him before they're done playing with him, head slightly southeast and you'll find a hidden gate what should take you pass the usual guards that protect the keep." She suggests to the party below.

They nod in understanding and with that, she draws back. It wasn't long before they're following her directions, glad that she spent time studying the keep up close once Naruto had vanished since this might give them a better start in getting to the brat then directing them to one of the more commonly used entrances.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

For the tenth time, he can't help but sigh as a Harpy's talons softly run along his back, pretty much scratching various spots that he himself couldn't reach, especially getting this one spot that lies between his shoulder blades and under them. While the Harpy does that, a human slave is busy clipping and polishing his toe claws. There were even a pair of Minotaurs were positioned on either side of the door.

_Who would have thought that I'd end up being treated like this? I sure didn't, that's for sure._ He muses as the Harpy finishes scratching his back and then moves to study the work the human slave is doing to his toe claws. His finger claws had already been trimmed and filed by the slave while he was getting a rub down by the Harpy.

He knew he shouldn't enjoy this pampering but a part of him that was created when they entered into this world just didn't care. He's pretty sure that if it weren't for that part of him, he would have been slaughtered long before he ever met Dart since he's originally only a nine year old academe student who never been out of Hidden Leaf before, let alone knew how to handle killing another thinking being before being dropped in this world. And yet here he was, not only currently looking like an adult, with a mature attitude and skills but not the least bit human as well.

_I wonder what it'll be like to return to not just my true body but my true age as well? Will I slowly begin to forget how it feels to be an adult? Will I slowly begin to act like a nine year old once more? Or will I always yearn to return to this world and, in particular, this body?_ He wonders to himself as he stares off at some point on the far wall that he's facing, waiting for him to be declared presentable.

Finally, his toe claws were finished and the Harpy begins to study him with a calculating look before ordering the slave to go fetch the cloths their master, the Lady Aeris had picked out for him to wear. He did miss his necklace and his metal bracers but counted himself fortune that he's allowed to keep such things and so had put not just those but his armor and silk cloths into his satchel before being lead to the wealthy looking bathing room, which he's still in.

The Minotaur glare down at the slave as she opens the door and hurries to fetch said garments. He doesn't bother trying to converse with the Harpy overseer, he just didn't see the point since nothing would come from it other then making Lady Aeris get defensive on him, believing he's sounding out spies or trying to win them over so that he could overthrow her within her domain, which he doesn't want at all since he really wants to return to Hidden Leaf even though he lacks a good reputation among the villagers and a good portion of the ninja.

_At least I won't have to worry about money problems now that I have a fortune in various types of coins and luxury things that I managed to find along the way._ He thinks such thoughts with a very tiny smile on his face.

Finally the slave returns with soft golden shirt, black pants, and a flowing blue robe to where with a few extras like a slash and a good for nothing sword that's only there for show. _No jewelry._ He thinks in relief since he would have a devil of a time trying to think of reasons why he couldn't want to wear it since might receive enchanted items set to ensnare him and he wouldn't want to upset his hostess.

After all, most of the slaves here had likely come before Lady Aeris as her rescuers or what not and received enchanted items like rings and necklaces that were meant to enslave the wearers, forcing them to serve her until she either took them off or they died. He had taken time to study the collars of the few slaves he's run into already and noticed that they weren't what kept them here.

Although it's likely she didn't offer any because she knew he would have detected said spells on her slaves and on the pieces she would have send along with the cloths. Even now, he did cast Detect Magic to be sure that all of it, including the sword, were safe as well before putting them on, not caring about the quick glances that the woman slave were sending to him and at the Harpy.

"I believe I am ready." He states in a calm, confident voice once he's done placing the fancy but useless sword in his sash belt. The Harpy nods and once the bird woman leaves orders for the human slave to begin cleaning the bath hall, the Harpy motions for him to follow her as the Minotaurs open the door for them to leave by.

_I wonder what kind of business she wants to discuss? I know for certain that summoning me wasn't planned, so what is it she had wanted to summon in the first place?_ He wonders as he follows the Harpy through the halls, ignoring the bowing heads of the other slaves as they walk pass them, forcing them to move to the sides of the hall with the wall at their backs.

He doesn't even frown at the few glares that were sent his way as they passed, after all, throughout his short life he's always been on the receiving end of such looks so they really don't cause any real emotional reaction within him as he sometimes glances at portraits and statues that line the hallways that he traveled while following the Harpy with a pair of Minotaurs trailing behind them.

"Just wait a moment here, sir." The Harpy says to him as they arrive before a pair of huge doors guarded by two towering Golems who weren't active at the moment. He watches as she slips between the barely opened doors, more then happy to wait before his next encounter with his fellow Rakshasa of the Ak'chazar type, Lady Aeris.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	17. Arc 1: Chapter 17

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Dart**

"These spiders don't taste too good." He tells anyone who'd listen as he shakes his head rapidly with his mouth open in hopes that the spider bits in his mouth will drop out. He hovers a foot or two above the floor since he's trying to avoid getting caught in the web that's blocking the others' path.

Then he uses his taloned hands to scrape his tongue gently since he really didn't want his tongue to get cut and start to bleed. He ignores how the webs soon began to get consumed by fire, one likely set by their Warlock, Kiba.

"Blasted webs, freakin' spiders. Hope they all roasted alive." Neji grumbles softly as he does a quick U turn and returns to where the group is. He glances over at the Drow for a few seconds before shaking his head.

He rather not know the reasons why a member of a race known for worshiping a deity closely associated with spider would be cursing the lot. _Unless he had a bad run in with her priestess..._ He muses before brushing off those thoughts.

"Relax, Neji, they're all going to be killed one way or another." Hinata tells the rogue. He watches as Neji glances at the bard for a few minutes before nodding in agreement with that statement.

Glancing down the hall that use to be filled up with spider webs and the makers of said webs, he finds that the fire seems to have done its job. With a few great sniffs, he declares, "I smell something cooked."

"Those are likely the spiders." Choji says after taking a few sniffs as well. He just hums in agreement before flying down the hall, not bothering to wait for Shikamaru or Kiba to give the all clear.

As he flies speedily through the air, he does notice crispy burnt spiders laying about on the floor. Very few of these spiders twitched although he bets that the larger spiders had likely suffered minimum burns and maybe a quick fall to the ground. Not that he spotted any spiders his size or larger as he flies over the carnage that one fireball can do viva the webs.

Within minutes, he comes across a fork and he begins to circle about the two hallways, trying to think of which one to take. It took a few more minutes for the rest of the party to catch up and after Kiba does a minor locate spell, they take the left tunnel. A few seconds of walking and he couldn't ignore the sound any longer.

"What's making that sound?" He asks anybody who's listening to him. It didn't take long before a few members of the party to stop and listen.

"It sounds like insects." Kiba muses and with a flicker of his hand, the Warlock sends the orb of light down the hall for a bit. "Oh shit." The Dire Werewolf mutters under his breath and he has to agree with that sentiment.

One of the larger beetles uses its wings scarping against its canopy. Within seconds, every beetle within range turns towards the orb and then the smaller ones begin to swarm towards them while the larger beetles bring up the rear. "Crap!" Choji curses while Kiba and Shikamaru are already casting various spells, mostly fire ones with a few lightning ones here and there.

He drive bombs the swarm, catching beetles in his mouth while using the spike at the tip of his tail to spear a few. Choji and Hinata begin to stomp on the swarm while Neji takes his time to aim his arrows at the larger ones at the back. As the smaller beetles begin to crawl up the legs of the others, he moves to help get rid of those crawling on their body, careful not to get hit by the limbs moving about trying to do the same.

It didn't take long before Kiba casts a high level fire spell, one that forced them to flee back to the fork as the magic in the spell grows with every beetle it consumes. Once they finish killing those few beetles that were still on them, Shikamaru and Hinata begin casting heal spells on everyone, including him.

"I am really beginning to hate anything that lacks fur, hide/skin, and scales." Neji states in a semi calm manner, causing Kiba to snort softly while Choji nods in agreement.

"Well, they do taste better then the spiders we were fighting before." He says and it wasn't long before everyone seems to turn to look at him while he's picking his teeth with a claw. He shrinks back slightly, not sure why he felt intimidated by them, only that he is.

"Naruto had better be getting tormented by fiends for all of our trouble." Kiba murmurs darkly after they stop looking at him. He decided not to comment as he decided to see if he had any fresh tears in his wings.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

_I wonder how the others are doing, I'm sure that by now they realize I'm gone._ He muses as he takes his time eating his breakfast. His meeting with Lady Aeris had gone well enough, especially when he spotted the item they needed hanging on the wall as a trophy.

He just needed to think of a way to get it without arousing the suspension of... Scratch that, he needed to get it in a manner that suggests it's the last thing he wanted in the world, he's positive that doing so will insure that she gives him it as the reward for this trifling request that he said he'd think over.

_But I also want to say bye to Dart before he goes..._ He thinks as the image of the little dragon flashes within his mind. Unlike his other friends, its unlikely that he'll ever see the fairy dragon again and that causes his heart to ache.

With a slight head movement, he dismisses that thought for now as he reminds himself to focus on getting the Sceptre of Ending so that they can leave this world. He's fairly sure that if he uses it without the other that they'll be pulled back home along with him since they were from the same party.

_But how do I go about getting it without revealing how important it is to me?_ He thinks as he finally finishes off what's on his plate. It didn't take long before a slave comes and takes the plate away.

"More?" The slave asks and he shakes his head. With that, the slave leaves him alone at the table, he puts the napkin that's on his lap onto the table before pushing the chair out so that he can stand.

A number of ideas and half played out scenes whirl within his mind's eye, hardly aware that the two guards at the door open it and within seconds, he's being escorted through the heavily decorated halls. He would pause every so often to study certain pieces of art work, dimly aware that such actions were likely being reported to his hostess.

_But then, we are to speak about my reward for preforming such a minor task. It shouldn't be hard to her to believe that my actions were about thinking up what to name for my reward._ He thinks and that part of him that liked being pampered agreed with that.

By the time he arrives at the throne room of Lady Aeris, he had some idea on how to negotiate his reward. As he walks into the spacious throne room, he allows his eyes to linger on a few choice items while sending the three sceptres on display, with disdain. Out of the corner of his eye, he did note that Lady Aeris watching, although when he looked at the item he wanted, as it was the last sceptre for him to walk pass, he did note a glint in her eye.

He didn't blame Lady Aeris for it, after all, if he didn't know that it had the power to send him and his friends home, he would have thought it had no power either since it doesn't have anything magical within it. He made a show of studying the magical swords, armor, and crowns before he stops to stand at the bottom of the throne steps.

"I see you're admiring my collection, Lord Naruto. Which pieces do you like?" Lady Aeris asks him. He takes a few seconds before he answers, "I believe that the onyx dagger on the granite pillar is a very well made item. Plenty of magic seems to be stored within it, likely due to any number of spells that have been cast on it."

"Ah yes, the Dagger of Soul Might. It is a very fine weapon, although using its spells can be very... draining." Lady Aeris tells him and his eyes flicker towards the dagger for a brief moment before returning to looking up at his hostess.

"You seem to speak from experience, Lady Aeris. It must be a long while since you had need of it." He says and a slightly distant look enters into Lady Aeris' eyes for a few seconds before her attention returns to him.

"So it has, so it has." Lady Aeris says. "Perhaps after I finish this task before me, you wouldn't mind sharing an adventure or two concerning your time collecting your wealth?" He muses, softly nudging the conversation towards the heart of the matter, not in a very subtle manner though.

Lady Aeris looks bemused at him for a few seconds before replying, "Perhaps I shall, only if you'll do me the honor of sharing a tale or two of your own adventures." He looks thoughtful for a few seconds before agreeing.

"Sounds like a fair trade, my Lady." He says and then says, "Forgive me of sound rather... blunt, but it has been so long since I've been in the presence of someone of my own stature. I've been in the company lowly beings for so long that I seem to have allowed my social skills have become dull."

His gamble seems to have paid off as a slight, bemused smile graces the other Rakshasa's feline face. "I believe I know how you feel since our race doesn't work very well with each other; not when we can be worshiped by the other races." Lady Aeris states and he nods in agreement.

"So then, let us discuss your reward for ridding me of this hydra." Lady Aeris says in a purr and so they began to negotiate what kind of reward payment he'll receive.

-)**T**(-

_I can't believe how well that went. Although I'm surprised she gave me the sceptre as advance payment._ He thinks as he follows his guide, a Lizardfolk who wears a pair of silver arm braces.

_Once I kill this thing I'll then return to Lady Aeris for the rest of my reward before activating the magic within the sceptre to send us home. I'm sure the others are doing fine, after all, I'm the one facing a monster with multiple heads._ He thinks to himself as they leave the decorated halls of Lady Aeris behind.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

"Where do these things keep coming from?" He growls as he fends off the tail of the seven foot tall scorpion before retreating out of the range of the pincers. "It's like someone has created a breeding pit for these things to breed in!" He adds as Hinata manages to cut off the very tip of the stinger.

"Well, you never know, they just might be doing just that, Neji." Kiba remarks a few feet behind him. He can't help but hope that wherever Naruto is, he's suffering as greatly as they were.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	18. Arc 1: Chapter 18

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

With a small orb of light dimly lit a few inches away, he continued to walk through the more natural looking tunnels as he journeys towards the lair of the Hydra that seems to have done something to aggravate Lady Aeris. Though it did make him wonder why she hadn't sent her army of enslaved adventurers to slay the beast, until he realized that while she could order them to fight the hydra, they wouldn't likely fight as eagerly as they would if they were free beings.

_And she wouldn't reward them with freedom either, well, not unless you consider death to be a type of freedom._ He admits with a slight sigh before he shakes his head so that he can refocus on his task. As he jerks his head up as he hears a familiar flurry of wings.

"Stupid little monsters, you'd think they would have learnt their lesson already." He murmurs under his breath as his two swords were once more drawn as a group of about eight shortish, purple beings with leather wings suddenly appear a few feet before him. With his ears flatten against his skull, he bellows out a war cry as he starts to charge the group.

A few take to the air while most try to duck under his swing to get at his midsection. He back hands at least three of them with his right hand while managing to spear another with his left sword. He doesn't pay it much mind as the recently stabbed one vanishes, revealing that it was a fake.

As the ground group pulls away, the three in the air come to swoop at him. He manages to spear another of these purple beings and this time, a splatter of blood greets him as the point exits out of the other side of the being's body. It drops to the floor while some of the fakes vanish.

Flickering his sword, the blood on the blade flies through the air away from him and his fine cloths. Unsurprisingly, the one that remains quickly moves towards the body of its fallen ally to begin consumption. With a slightly snarl of disgust, he walks pass the remaining purple being to enter into what seems to be a natural cavern.

Keeping his swords in hand, he begins to creep forward with the orb of light lighting a few feet before him. He wrinkles his nose at the smell of the cavern. As he finally makes it to what appears to be the far wall, he finally finds what smells so spoiled.

"Looks like somebody did my work for me." He admits as he pokes the huge, scaly body before him. Glancing to either side reveals that more of those purple beings are laying dead by the body, which causes him to wonder just what killed them and the hydra.

"Ok... this isn't looking very promising..." He admits with a frown as he begins to circle the corpse for answers, hoping that whatever did this is either sleeping or not in this cavern at the moment. It did cause him some concern when he noticed that at least two of the hydra's heads were missing.

_Well, I might as well find a ledge high off the ground and wait for whoever is responsible to return._ He thinks as he sheaths his two blades and begin to string his bow before he begins to climb up the rocky wall to find a good spot to rest from. He really doubts he wants to be on the ground for when this being or group of beings return.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

"Here comes another swarm of rats." Kiba says in a tired tone. He resists the urge to sigh as well as rolling his eyes as the Warlock once more states the obvious.

"I think I spot a few Dire Rats among the forerunners." He admits at the sight of spikes that are growing out of some of the rodent's spine and sides. He didn't see fit to mention the giant rodents that were racing side by side with the ordinary verity.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru mutters under his breath while his cousin nods in agreement, after all, those two were their healers and have been forced to do little more then casting cure on them since some of these rats seem to be equipped with some kind of diseased bite.

"Now would be a very good time to teleport us out of here." The little fairy dragon states in a weary tone; although he's not sure just who Dart is talking to at this point and within seconds, he's a little too busy trying to kill the swarm of small foes to care.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"Time to collect another skull." He hears a loud voice boom. Within seconds, something heavy begins to move. As he glances about the horizon, he can't help but spot something bright red coming towards him.

_What is it? Is it the one that spoke?_ He wonders as he brings up his bow and arrow to a spot just under his chin. He couches on his ledge, waiting for whatever it was to get closer for a clear shot.

Seconds tick by and were transformed into minutes. Step by step, the glowing red figure comes closer and closer. As he gets a good sight of the moving armor that's glowing a sinister red, he began to notice a figure walking a few feet behind the set of magical moving armor.

_Isn't that an Oni?_ He wonders as he gets a better look as the pair moves to one of the still attached heads. He shakes his head and begins to pull the string of his bow back as he takes aim at the blue being's skull.

He watches as the larger being bends down to examine the head. Within seconds, he lets loose the shaft of the arrow and it travels swiftly through the air and enters into the skull of the being. The being drops to the ground and within a few heartbeats, he has another arrow and aiming for the armor, not sure if shooting arrows at the animated armor will do anything to destroy it.

As the glowing red armor moves towards the wall he climbed, he's not all that surprised that his arrows weren't doing any real damage to the sinister suit of armor. As the suit of glowing red armor begins to slam its wicked sword at the wall, he's torn between trying to finish the suit of armor off and using magic to leave the situation without getting the reward he was promised.

Oddly enough, his hands were already gripping the item by the time he realized what was happening. _Oh well, at least I killed the one bossing it around._ He muses and makes a wish for everyone in the party to return to Hidden Leaf village.

)**-o-**(

**Shino**

As his insects begin to buzz in excitement, he glances at the board and finds an image of a humanoid black tiger in leather armor griping a bejeweled sceptre. Glancing down, he finds that the game board seems to have lightning crackling from the keep that the party had entered with it hitting the ground beyond the game board.

As he slowly backs away, he notices that the box and manuals begin to shake and then, before his eyes, he watches as the items move. Finally thunder rumbles and he watches as wind seems to swirl at a spot before the game board. The winds grows stronger with lightning getting caught up in the whirl wind that seems to be forming.

As he returns to watching the image of Naruto, a flash of light causes him to shield his eyes, even though he's wearing sun glasses. Thumps could be heard and as the wind finally dies down, he moves his arms and finds a pile of people laying on the ground.

"Where are we?" A strangely familiar voice wonders and it takes him a few seconds to realize that the fairy dragon that attached itself to the group had also been pulled out of the game.

"I think we might be home." Hinata says and then the group begins to organize itself. "But how? We were fighting an angry swarm of rats!" Kiba cries while the flying lizard shape being begins to examine each and everyone of them in a slightly confused manner.

"Hey Dart! How have you been?" The blond student asks and the little peacock green dragon moves to hover before Naruto. "Naruto? Naruto!" And with that, the little dragon moves to perch on Naruto's shoulders.

"Ok, what did you do, blondie? And it better involve you on a torture chamber." Kiba declares.

"Has anyone noticed that we're still wearing our armor and stuff?" Choji wonders while Naruto holds up his hands while wearing a look of confusion on his face.

"Torture chamber? Well, if Lady Aeris's hospitality is considered torture then I should have asked to be chained to the wall." Naruto says and even he wanted to hear about this.

"Lady Aeris?" Hinata asks and Naruto sighs.

"Well, that's who did cast the summoning spell in hopes of getting her hands on that statue that the Minotaurs dug up. It turns out that some ancient sorcerers began to seal up Rakshasa souls in statues to keep them from reincarnating. It seems that she thought I was that sealed soul and I never corrected her on it." The blond admits.

"I never heard of that way of disposing of any member of the Rakshasa race." Dart murmurs. Naruto just sighs before continuing on.

"Well, within minutes of her summoning me, she had her servants show me to a bathroom. I soaked in that for a few hours to get rid of anything clinging to my fur. Once I dried off, I then got a manicure as well as a body rub. I met with her before she send me off to have breakfast before we continued our conversation." Naruto pauses to take a breather before continuing.

"She wanted me to take care of this hydra a few floors below her. Once I accepted, we began to bargain my pay. She even gave me the sceptre as advance payment." Naruto stops as most of the party gives him scratching looks. "Hehe, anyway, I traveled out of her set of levels, along the way I fought these strange, winged purple beings until I made it to this large, seemingly natural cavern."

Naruto frowns as a hand of his moves to stroke Dart's neck. "I did find the hydra and boy did it stink! There were bodies of those purple monsters littering around the corpse, too. After examining it, I found that two of the hydra's heads had been cut off. In the end, I took out my bow and climbed the rock face to wait for somebody responsible to appear."

"And?" Kiba asks after a few seconds and Naruto sighs. "You might not believe it but about an hour later, this glowing suit of armor appears with an Oni following it! I got ready to shoot an arrow from my bow, waiting for the Oni to get in a position where it wouldn't move to doge my arrow." Naruto tells them.

"The arrow got him in the back of the head and it didn't take long before that magical suit of armor to start marching towards the wall with its large sword raised up. After firing some arrow at it, I finally decided that it would be a very good idea to use the sceptre to retreat." Naruto finishes while the others take time to digest this.

"So... you think I might finally get to eat some berries that I didn't have to forage for?" The dragon asks, causing the tension among the group to get redirected to the peacock green being who seems very content to remain perched on Naruto's shoulders.

"What's the matter? Tired of eating roasted spider?" Kiba teases and the little being snorts as Dart replies, "Well, yea."

"I do believe that firstly, we might need to visit Lord Hokage to report your return." He pipes in and the group turn to look at him. The dragon cocks his head to the side as he regards him for a few seconds while the others seem to flush in embarrassment, as if forgetting what kind of reaction they would gather by just walking down the street.

"So... who are you?" Dart asks and he answers, "I'm Shino Aburame."

"You know, maybe we should pack up the game before we leave. We wouldn't want somebody to find it and play it." Hinata muses and withing seconds, the game is once more secure, although when Dart had touched the mat, he glowed and grew to be the size of a medium dog as well as gaining loads more colors.

"You look so pretty now." Naruto muses and Dart just grins toothily at them all. "I feel complete! Hey, look at this!" Dart says as the now larger dragon then before picks up a soft green leather bag.

Within seconds, the dragon is rummaging through the bag. It didn't take long before cries of excitement erupt from the strange being that followed the group home. "Its like my hoard is all within this bag!" Dart cries as the dragon pulls his head out of the leather bag.

"Well, I'm just glad you're ok, Dart." Hinata says softly from her position next to the being with iridescent scales. "Well, I guess we should go visit the old man now that the game is packed up." Naruto muses.

"Right. Although, I wouldn't mind using the little boy's room before we do that." Kiba admits and Naruto smirks as he says, "Don't you mean the little puppies' room?"

"Naruto!" Kiba growls but the blond just laughs as he sprints towards the door with Dart flying a foot behind with the green leather bag hanging from his neck. Dart's giggling mixes with the chuckles coming from the blond.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	19. Arc 1: Chapter 19

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"Hey, Naruto!" Kiba calls and he turns to look at the now eleven year old academy student who's at the head of a group consisting of Choji, Hinata, Neji, and Shikamaru. Next to him, Dart flickers his tail in a dismissive gesture as the Fairy Dragon continues to eat from his bowl of berries.

"Hey you guys! I got us a cake to celebrate Neji's promotion." He tells the group; not that they hadn't noticed it when they arrived.

"Are we going to wait for Anko and Shino?" Hinata asks as the group moves to take up spot by the upturned crate that the cake is sitting on.

"Anko left a note on my table saying that she's going to miss it since she got a mission early this morning." He answers Hinata's inquiry.

"Just means there's more cake for the rest of us!" Kiba states with a smirk while Choji nods in agreement.

"Well, let's not forget about Shino." Choji points out but it seems as if Kiba hadn't heard or didn't care.

The door opens and Shino walks through the door frame. "I brought the drinks." Shino says calmly and sure enough, there is two bags filled with bottled tea and water.

"Oops, I forgot I was suppose to . . ." Kiba trails off with slightly widen eyes and he couldn't help but chuckle at his classmate and ex-team-mate.

"It was very thoughtful, Shino. Thank you." Hinata says as she takes one of the bags from Shino. It wasn't long before they each have a bottled filled with some kind of liquid.

"Aren't his new team going to join us?" Dart asks with berry juices staining his scaly muzzle.

"They had other things they wanted to do." Neji answers calmly as he unscrews the bottle's lid.

"So, who wants to do the honors and cut the cake?" He asks the group with a large, long knife in his hand. After all, he did bring the plates, forks, and the knife along with the cake.

"I'll do it." Shikamaru says and he hands the knife over to the bored looking Nara.

Once everyone has a slice of cake on a plate and a fork, only then did he start on his piece while Dart forgoes the fork and just digs in, a quick look into the bowl of berries shows that the Fairy dragon managed to polish off the contents.

"So, who's on your team?" Choji asks Neji after silence hanging between them for a few minutes.

"Let's see, a girl name Tenten, Lee Rock, and we're serving under Guy Might." Neji answers, he could have sworn that Neji's shoulders hunched slightly at the mention of his teacher.

"Well, at least you made Genin this year, congratulations!" He says with a smile and the others echo his sentiment.

Neji smiles slightly at the cheers and once they're done eating their slices of cake, small talk began to emerge among them.

"I wonder if Anko will ever follow through with her plans on 'liberating' the game?" Choji wonders.

"The old man must have hide it in a damn good spot if she hasn't managed to get her hands on it after all of this time. Though I do believe that she'll get it at the worst possible time and find a way to force us to play it." He muses as Dart moves to curl up next to him.

"She really likes that Dwarf made ale, huh?" Kiba muses and he snorts.

"I think it's the Elven wine that she's missing the most." He counters.

After a few seconds of glaring at each other, Hinata changes the topic.

)**-o-**(

**Anko**

She couldn't help but glare at the game box. It had taken her a good three year to find it and it still remains out of her reach.

"So, you're looking for things to request for upcoming Chunin examines? Rumor mill has it that you're running the second part of it." The Chunin currently in charge of the equipment locker says to her.

She blinks as she slowly turns to regard the brunet as a plan begins to form quickly. "Yes, yes I am and I believe that I found just the thing for the survival portion of the up coming Chunin examine." She says to the brunet with a slow grin finding its way onto her face.

"Err... ok." The Chunin says, highly uncomfortable about any of this.

Within minutes, she has the game under her arm as she whistles a merry tone. _So it begins..._ She thinks as she makes her way to the market to buy a few things that will help her put her long desired plans into action.

No matter where they were in Hidden Leaf and beyond, they all felt a shiver move down their spins, well, Dart didn't but then, he was sleeping at the time . . .

_-)_** # So Ends Arc 1 #**_(-_


	20. Arc 2: Chapter 1

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"That's the second exam! How did you ever . . ." He got cut off as Anko appears behind him and places her hand over his mouth, keeping him from completing his question before the crowd of Chuunin hopefuls.

"If you don't continue on that thread I'll give you and your previous party members time to go through the race manual for your character sheets." Anko hisses into his right ear.

He thinks it over before nodding in agreement which soon prompts the crazed woman to leave him alone. He ignores the questioning looks that are sent in his direction. Pretty much everyone seems to be curious about what he was about to ask when Anko cut him off.

_Well, I'm sure the others will be happy for a chance to refresh their knowledge on the various races of this game. Especially now that we're going to be playing it, again._ He tells himself as Anko begins to explain what the goal is while they were role playing.

He could hear a few genin snicker at the thought of how lame this test seems to be, but the others and himself knew different. It also kind of made him wonder if this is the reason why Anko asked for Dart not to accompany him here too.

_Well, I guess I could do Sasuke and Sakura's sheets too. I doubt Choji, Shikamaru, and Neji's going to allow their own team to use these pre-made character sheets that Anko's offering to the rest of them._ He thinks before a slight smirk forms at the likelihood of any of these people getting a really interesting race besides Human and Half types.

He ignores Anko's explaining about the various classes were all about and what kind of benefits they got. Most of the genin crowd seem to be toning her out as well.

"Honestly, is this the best she can come up with?" He hears a hopeful murmur to a team-mate. He could only image the looks they'll get when they realize that not only were they stuck in an alien world but they lack their ability to use chakra as well as their usual tricks and skills.

Finally, Anko winds down by saying, "If you don't like the pre-made character sheet, you're welcome to try and fill out your own." He sighs at the knowing look in her eyes.

"Now then, I just need you to fill out these wavers before I hand your team a character sheet." Anko declares and as people begin to wander away, he moves to speak with his previous party and Shino about what Anko had promised to keep him from finishing his question.

-)**T**(-

Even though the others had finished theirs and had left, leaving him alone, he still going through the three sheets in his hands. He wanted to be sure that he's done the best he could for his team even if he couldn't help but smirk at the thought that Sasuke's 'threat' that he had better make him a rogue or else. _Oh well, just means I don't have to worry about him tossing around fireballs._

_Don't trust Sakura not to only heal Sasuke, so that pretty much leaves me in that role. Besides, paired with being a Weretiger, she'll do well as a warrior._ He muses before looking at Sasuke's sheet.

Suddenly, he finds himself choking as something holds him up in the air by his throat. "..." He couldn't help but stare as the team from Hidden Sand makes itself known.

"You will fill out our sheets and you will do a good job, understand?" The red head named Gaara tells him in a flat tone while the two teens seem highly nervous about any of this.

"Fine! But I need to be on the ground to do so." He declares and within seconds, he finds himself landing kind of hard on the ground.

He watches as sand floats towards Gaara's huge jug. The two teens move and hand him the sheets. At a glance, he finds that they filled out their names and some of the other stuff.

"Well, I'm going to have to erase most of this other then your names. I'd also like you to take turns rolling these dice, record your throws, and I'll show you how to fill out your stats. Also, any class preferences?" He asks as he tosses the right dice at them, the ones they need to use for their stats.

"I use puppets." The face painted teen states and with a frown, he takes a pencil and writes Sorcerer on Kankuro's class blank. Studying the teen for a few seconds, he shrugs and writes Rakshasa with Ak'chazar added as an after thought.

He makes sure to write down a school for necromancer since they were unfeeling minions and would replace his puppet. He then makes sure to sacrifice an equipment slot for a item that will explain the basics of his race and class. As Kankuro hands over a slip of paper with various numbers under each name.

He hands them another set of dice so that they can roll to see how much money they have at the beginning. Then explains the opinions they have with that money, like how they can either save it for later use or use it now and buy slightly better equipment, but explains flatly that some of it will be used for food and water right off the bat.

Once he's done with Kankuro's sheet, he hands it to the face painted teen, who takes it and after reading it, rolls his eyes at it, but doesn't do anything else, allowing him to begin on Temari's sheet.

"You have anything against tengus?" He asks her since she does remind him of a bird. The large fan being like a wing or something.

After a few seconds of getting a flat look from her, he sighs and writes Kenku there and then after a few more thoughtful seconds of looking at her out of the corner of his eye, he writes rogue there.

Once more, he sacrifices an equipment to create another item that would give her the information she'll need about her race and class. Unlike her brother, she does buy some leather armor and dagger, then on his suggestion, buys a simple cloak to hide her features.

_Two down, one to go._ He muses as he now studies Gaara, likely the main reason why they even singled him out in the first place to do their sheets.

"Well, you have any thought about what type of class you want to be?" He asks Gaara.

"Something that allows me to kill anything in my way." The read head states and he sighs as he writes warrior there.

Then, as he writes down human, he gets struck by an idea. He suppresses the urge to smirk as his pencil hovers over the item list. Within seconds, he's got an item creating sheet out and creating a pendent that should turn Gaara into an experimental lycanthrope, a Werebat. He adds a clause to the magical item that since it's experimental, Gaara's bite doesn't pass on the condition.

As the three leave, he moves to pull out Sakura's sheet and once he eliminates sacrifices a bit of armor, creates an item that keeps Sakura from passing on her condition from a bite and/or scratch. He adds creates it as an earring, it didn't take him long to find another item creation sheet and creates it like he did with Gaara's pendant.

Though he's tempted to try and see if he can't create an item that would allow him to have his skill from his previous character, he decides to create an item that will allow him to keep his skills from his previous game after this game is done. He also adds that it'll allow him to add the druid skills he'll gain from this upcoming game as well. He decides to create it in the form of a ring.

Finally, he's done what he could and begins to clean up the pile of manuals, dice, and loose sheets of paper, which include the extra item creation sheets.

He hands everything but the filled sheets over to a Chuunin before moving to stand by his team-mates. He glances at the large game mat that contains more then the basic number of keeps and towers.

_Just how did she manage to add to it? It's more then four times its original size!_ He thinks as he shakes his head. Once he reaches Sasuke and Sakura, he tries to hand him their sheets but Sasuke refuses to take them and Sakura just follows his lead, like usual.

_I'm so glad I'm not going to be relying on either of them for healing spells. Give me some time and I'll be able to befriend a companion to aid in my protection._ He thinks as he takes his place with the two.

He watches as Anko glances around at them with a smirk. "Let the games begin!" She declares and she drops some dice onto the playing mat.

By the time his vision clears, his tongue is touching the teeth in his mouth as he takes in his surroundings. "What the Hell?!" He hears Sasuke shout and turns to finds a red skinned being with horns growing out of the forehead.

"You really should have read your sheet, Sasuke since then you would have known that you're character is a Half-Fiend. Hence why you have red skin and those horns." He says and Sasuke tries to glare at him until Sasuke realizes his own changed looks.

"You're still blond, Dobe." Sasuke comments and he just shrugs before glancing at the third member of their party.

"How come I still look the same as before?" Sakura asks, not likely noticing that her hair has become red instead of pink or that she's not an adult.

"That's because you're a Weretiger. You're just in your human form, you should be able to shift into a hybrid form and an animal form. Kiba did during our first time playing this game. He kind of wished he kept that ability when we finished it. But then, I had hoped to keep some of my previous forms inherit abilities too." He muses as he takes in the scent that the wind brings to his nose.

He pulls some strands of hair behind his pointed ear as he turns to glance around at the meadow they landed in. "Heads up! We got company!" He declares as some stones come flying through the air.

As he brings out his dagger, he watches as a small party of Halflings charging towards them with their own weapons drawn. He pauses and then says, "Don't bother trying to use a jutsu, we don't have chakra, none at all to power them."

He hears Sasuke growl while Sakura's growl is much deeper while she draws out her broadsword, a weapon likely in similar condition as his dagger and cloths. "Sakura, you get to be our power house since Sasuke wanted to be a thief." He tells the group.

"What about you?" Sakura demands and he answers in a smug way, "Why I'm the healer out of the three of us! So if you want your injuries to be cared for while we're here, you might want to make it an objective to protect me since when I attend higher levels, I'll be capable of healing everything save death."

As the approaching group of Halflings get within a few feet of them, two pull back to use their slings while those with shortswords continue to charge towards them. With a snarl, Sakura's new personality takes over while Sasuke takes out his shortbow, likely due to his own new personality, and proceeds to shoot arrow at those slingers.

He prepares to defend himself from any who slip through Sakura's frontal assault to attack Sasuke and himself with their swords. _I haven't felt this weak since we faced those Goblins..._ He admits as he castes a healing spell on Sakura since she got hit by a sling stone to her head.

"But we'll soon correct that." He muses softly as he moves to engage one of the three sword welding Halflings.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	21. Arc 2: Chapter 2

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Neji**

"Where are we and what happened to our looks?" Tenten asks now that they finish killing a pack of winter wolves. He's a bit busy skinning the lot while Lee is busy getting use to his new body structure.

"We're on a world that the game mat represents. As for our new looks, we have been transformed into our characters." He answers after finishing, clumsily skinning a wolf.

"Yosh! My Youthful Flames continue to burn even now!" Lee proclaims and he glances over at the scaly monk. He feels highly relieved to note that there isn't a flame burning about the Dragonborn's frame.

"So I'm now a Half-Elf and Lee's a Dragonborn?" Tenten says and he nods.

"I'm a Silver Half-Dragon. Now if you wouldn't mind, could we finish skinning these wolves? We could get money for their skins when we visit a village or wandering merchant." He says as he glances at the Ranger and then at the Monk.

"What class did you pick?" Tenten asks as she moves to help him skin the other five dead wolves.

"I'll scout around!" Lee declares and he watches as Lee tries to head off at a high speed. He's not that surprised that Lee didn't dash off at his usual speed.

"I choice to be a Wizard. In time, I might be able to learn some healing spells." He answers Tenten's question once Lee is out of sight and he moves to skin another wolf.

"Well, I take it that the green orb is a spell?" Tenten asks him and he nods, which causes her to return to skinning one of the wolves.

_Well, at least Naruto's in the same situation as I am._ He tells himself as he continues to slowly cut at the underlay of muscle under the skin.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

"Look at this! This copper ring seems to have a serpent around the gem." Kiba says and she nods while she finishes mending a looted dagger from one of the eight bandits they had just killed.

Akamaru yawns while Shino finishes going through the food that the bandits had been carrying. "I think we have more then enough food for now. Should we continue on?" Shino asks.

"Sounds good to me, right Akamaru?" Kiba says once he slips the ring onto a finger. The blink dog woofs an agreement before standing up.

She picks up her staff before standing. "Which direction should we head in?" She asks the Hound Archon and the Gnome.

"Let's try north since it'll be the easiest direction to figure out." Shino says with Kiba shrugging, clearly not caring about which direction to head in.

"Then we might want to go right away, remember what happened with the Goblins when we first played the game? I rather not deal with large numbers swarming us." She says as she moves to check one of the closer trees in hopes of finding the signs that they need to figured out which way is north.

)**-o-**(

**Gaara**

He couldn't help but be a bit peeved at the fact that the sand of the sandy beach didn't move to crush these strange tangled things that were somehow causing him injury.

"What's up with this beak? It's like someone crossed me with a crow or raven!" His eldest sibling Temari proclaims angrily as she looks at her reflection in the ocean.

"I don't know about you, but I'm fairly happy with what I am." Kankuro says and he turns his head just in time to watch his brother and team-mate transform from his human form into a body of a humanoid white tiger with backward hands.

"Like to see how you'd like to be whatever it is that I am!" Temari states and within seconds, Kankuro's form shift shapes into a mirror image of Temari for a few seconds before returning to his human form.

He stares at the pair and for the first time in his life, he found himself not feeling an overwhelming need to kill them. Only a blink displays his surprise at this development before he, then, tries to contact his inner demon.

"I can't hear him." He murmurs out loud in surprise and disbelief. Not caring that his older siblings were not looking very stunned by his announcement.

"It's like he was never there. He and. . . Mother." He adds softly. He finds it kind of surreal that for the first time in his life, there isn't another voice chatting in his mind. He suddenly felt very much alone, more so then he had been back when he was at home.

After a time, Temari says, "Well, standing here isn't going to help us complete this test. We better pick a direction and travel in it."

Kankuro sighs and follows after Temari picks a direction, south-west. A few seconds later, he follows them since he rather not be alone in this strange world where his inner demon seems to be but a dream.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"There's their camp." He muses softly, dawn not too far off. During the rest of the previous day and evening, they've fought off more Halflings and beasts, looting them as best as they could.

_Or best as I could since neither of them wanted to help._ He admits privately to himself. A soft snore reaches his ears.

He glances to his right to find Sasuke sleeping by leaning on a tree trunk. Glancing to his left he finds Sakura very much awake, even if not totally alert. He does notice that Sakura is glaring at their respective team-mate.

"Why do I have this sudden urge to sneer at him?" Sakura wonders softly with a confused look in her eye.

"That's your character's attitude and feelings. Most of the time you wouldn't notice it, not unless it's clashing with your trueself." He admits, after all, he feels very much at home in this forest and can swear he feels the 'mood' of their surroundings.

"You mean there's a mental element to this?" Sakura hisses and he nods.

"I wasn't the first bit squeamish to loot from corpses during the first time I was here. I had been a little confused about my sudden skills with two blade to do anything but follow a fellow party member's example. Later, I felt guilty about it and a touched horrified about how casually I had killed the enemies we encountered but it's how you gain experience to level up and to get free things that you can either sell for money or take the money they have on them." He explains and finds that Sakura seems to have gone slightly pale.

"And that's why I didn't stop you from. . . Or why I wasn't afraid to. . ." The red haired girl says in a far off tone.

"The character that we represent are those that 'grew' up in this world. That mindset we gain act is a mental shield to us, allowing us to coup with the things we see and do while we're here, in the game. It also takes over if we feel like we're about to freeze up." He continues to explain.

"But that doesn't explain my attitude towards Sasuke!" Sakura says angrily.

"Sasuke is currently a Half-Fiend and a rogue, they both have a reputation to be untrustworthy. It also likely doesn't help that he's leaning towards either Lawfully Evil or Chaotic Evil too. I put both of us as Chaotic Neutral so we can interact with him and act as a buffer between various Good aligned beings." He explains with a sigh.

Sakura just stares at him as this information gets mentally chewed on before she looks away with a sigh. He, privately, never could figure out why girls liked Sasuke, he pretty much put it down as a girl thing and left it at that.

"Well, since I think we need his help with our attack, we might want to get some sleep." He muses as he glances around to make sure they have good cover.

"Why are we even attacking this place anyway? I mean, they haven't done anything to us beyond us encountering their patrols." Sakura says and he sighs.

"Looks at it from this prospective. Do you see any women there with babes? Or elderly? This is a war camp and while I'm not sure who they're going to war with and I really don't care, we could use more supplies and they're got loads if they have that many people as part of their camp. We could also get better cloths, weapons, and gain a lot of gold as well." He tells her and notices how Sakura's hands tug at her ratty leather shirt with a thoughtful frown marring her face.

"We could use better cloths. . ." Sakura admits slowly and he nods in agreement.

"You can get some rest. I'll take sentry duty for now." He says soothingly and Sakura nods.

Minutes later, Sakura curled up on the ground with her sword's handle resting in the palm of her right hand. He smiles softly, more then a little surprised at the amount of trust she's placing on him. _So different then her usual attitude._

With a slight shake, he shifts into a more comfort position and begins to explore his feelings with a oneness with the world around him. He's fairly sure that he'll have plenty of warning if someone gets too near.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	22. Arc 2: Chapter 3

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Orochimaru**

"What the f**k is going on? These f**kers just keep coming and coming! You little s**theads! Get the hell away from me!" Tayuya curses as she slams her mace into the heads of these ugly, furless wolf like monsters that were doing a good job of keeping them pinned in this cave. They had dealt with ordinary wolves before facing off against these ones.

It's already become apparent that none of them can preform any jutsus or have their physical abilities. If it weren't for the fact that he's being affected by this... jutsu, he would have been very amused by all of this. _It would seem that my dear Anko needs a little visit from her old mentor._ He thinks as he flips through his spell book.

He suppresses a growl at the fact that he is currently depend on his 'bodyguards' for protection. Tayuya, Ukon, and Sakon seem to be focused on physical attributes while Kidomaru and Jirobo seem to be more focused on agile.

He had deduced that the reason why this should be is that the jutsu used on them seem to revolve around those character sheets. He did wonder if it had been some kind of hybrid between a Ninjutsu and a Genjutsu.

He finally finishes reading a few spells and once putting it back into the bag, he casts them on the mutated wolves.

Finally, they managed to kill the pack and he curses the exhaustion that has taken hold on him. Resisting the urge to fall to the ground, he rummages about in his seemingly limitless bag for a water skin.

The three with green tinted skin begin to cut into the furless wolves while the two with daggers mimic him in pulling out something to drink or to munch on. Being tired, nobody really felt like getting into an argument, which is odd considering Jirobo's usual attempts at getting Tayuya to quit swearing.

"What the f**k is some coins doing in this f**ker's stomach?" Tayuya growls.

"Or a ring." One of the twins muse and the other adds, "Or a pendant."

He takes out the spellbook once more and as he skims through it, he finds two new spells written in it. He memorizes them and a few others before closing the book once more.

Light snoring causes him to turn to find that Jirobo and Kidomaru have fallen asleep while leaning on the cave's wall. He considers giving the pair a kick and lecturing them about how this isn't a good time to take a nap, but then, none of them had rested during their first night in this genjutsu world.

"One of you is to be the sentry, the rest of you get some rest. Take turns doing so until I wake. We need our wits about us to find a way to break this jutsu." He says and the three nod.

With that, he closes his eyes and lies on the sandy ground while using his pack as a pillow. Hopefully once he's rested he'll be able to re-assist their situation.

)**-o-**(

**Anko**

"Isn't that..." One of the chuunin prospectors trails off as she studies the group of five that the observation pool is assigned to track.

"Orochimaru." She finishes and couldn't help but feel a savage joy at seeing how her ex-mentor struggles with the mixed pack of wolves and newer version of Worgs.

"So, he decided to crash the party, ah? Looks like he got an unpleasant surprise. I wonder how long until they run into something they can't handle?" She muses as she straightens.

"Just keep a record of any topics they talk about. Hopefully they'll drop hints as to why they're in the village and we can begin making plans to foul his plots." She tells the chuunin who is current sorcerer Shadar-Kai.

Once the chuunin nods, she moves to check on her 'favorite' genin teams.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

"Who would have thought these frog looking guys would be so hard to track?" Kiba muses as they trudge through the surrounding swamp as they try and track an injured Bullywug.

She glances over to look at Shino since it seems as if he's having some trouble due to his size. She had to admit that he did look like a little kid at the moment, a kid that's just finish having a tumble in the mud.

"I don't suppose we can find some dry ground for us to travel on?" Shino asks as they come to what appears to be some sunken stone ruins.

Akamaru leaps onto part of a wall and gives himself a shake. The golden furred Blink Dog then sticks his tongue out as his tail slowly wags from side to side.

"I don't see much beyond swamp, logs, and a few tall trees." Kiba says as Kiba begins to scratch Akamaru behind the ears.

"I suppose you could rid on Akamaru..." She suggests as she gives Akamaru a calculating look before doing the same to Shino.

"..." Shino pauses to give her a blank look before trying to wring out his robe. Shino's staff rests on the wall as he does so.

"I don't think we have the equipment for that. Heck, did Shino mark down a riding skill?" Kiba wonders and she sighs before she conquers some water for them to drink.

"And that's why we didn't need to buy water." Kiba muses to Akamaru before her team-mate takes a drink. Akamaru woofs in reply and waits for Kiba to share some of his water.

"So, what do you think the others are? I mean, both Naruto and Neji are on teams where they're the only ones who know what's what. Choji and Shikamaru have to deal with Ino too." Kiba muses and she just sighs at the thought of her long time crush with the pink haired shrew.

"She had better not be ignoring his injuries..." She mutters at the thought of Sakura the Healer ignoring Naruto's injuries to attend to Sasuke's.

"You know, Naruto might not have listed her as the healer of the group. I thought I saw him go through the Druid spell list." Shino states and she blinks.

"And least the fighting to Sakura? Yea right, pinkie doesn't have the stomach for gore." Kiba says, unknown to him a certain Weretiger sneezes in the middle of dealing with three Halflings firing poisoned arrows from hand crossbows.

"What did Naruto put down as Sasuke's race and class?" She asks, kind of dreading the idea of that asexual being the healer for the group. Considering duck butt's focus, the teen would likely throw a fit at being stuck with the job and refuse to heal anyone.

"I think Naruto put him down as rogue and for species, he put half-fiend." Kiba says and she sighs.

"Which leaves either Naruto or Sakura being the healer then." She murmurs and Akamaru whines softly at the mood hanging about them.

"Well, I'm sure Naruto's smart enough to have planned ahead for such a development." Shino says soothingly.

"You have to give it to Naruto, he is Hidden Leaf's most unpredictable ninja. After all, he's the one bunking with a Fairy Dragon after all and has been pranking the village long before Dart entered into the picture to lend a helping hand with illusions." Kiba says confidently and she smiles as she nods.

"Right!" She says, feeling much better.

"Well, I believe we don't need to go very far before we encounter more Bullywugs." Shino says as he picks up his staff.

Akamaru growls and barks threateningly at a swamp grass before them. She takes out her rusty longsword while Kiba brings out his claymore, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a toothy grin on Kiba's muzzle.

"Bring it on, frog spawn!" Kiba shouts at the approaching Bullywugs.

)**-o-**(

**Shikamaru**

"How troublesome." He says before moving to loot one of the dead Kobolds that littered the ledge of a cliff that's over an open part of a mine that seems to double as the Kobolds' camp.

"Do you think that if we turn and leave that they won't follow us?" Ino wonders as she fingers a wand they looted from a small treasure chest that some Kobolds had been transporting some where, likely to a drop off point where a dragon will pick it up.

"I doubt it." Choji says and then stomps a hoof before moving to the edge to look down into the camp. Choji rears up and turns to prance towards a small pile of kobold corpses.

"Either help loot these guys or check around for traps." He tells Ino in a flat tone. He notices how Ino flinches as she turns to look at the dead beings.

"And why are you looting those dead guys?" Ino asks as she backs slightly away.

Exchanging a glance, he leaves it to Choji to explain such things as he moves onto another corpse, he pockets the coins and items, not really giving them any real mind for now.

"Well, for one thing, it's one of the primary ways of collecting coins and items. Some monsters, for some reason or another, sometimes have things lodged in their bodies, particularly in their guts." Choji explains, he couldn't help but shutter as he remembers how they made that discovery the first time around.

_Just why did those Worg eat that stuff anyway?_ He wonders while Choji gives Ino a chance to chew on that.

"Besides, these guys are evil, Ino!" Choji stomps a hoof to empathize that. "With a capital E! They're cowards who will attack anybody, even little kids!" Choji tosses his head.

"If we attack this base camp below, we'd be doing this world a services by clearing this lot up. I bet that the mine below isn't one the Kobolds started! It's likely human or Dwarven in nature." Choji says and he nods in agreement with that sentiment.

"There are a lot of races in this world and a lot of them are evil to the core. I bet that these Kobolds' coins and whatnot were stolen from dead villagers or adventure parties." Choji says.

"And the more money we collect before heading into town, the more likely we can buy equipment that wasn't pre-used or sell it to merchants for coins." He adds and Ino seems to stiffen at the mention of pre-used.

"You mean I can't get a new wardrobe until we find a merchant?" Ino asks and he just sighs as he suppresses the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yes, Ino, until we find a merchant or enter into a town, we're going to be relaying on stuff we loot from our dead enemies. But if we invade that camp below, we might find chests willed with cloths that the Kobolds' collected from raiding local caravans that likely try and pass through this area." He says and out of the corner of his eye, he notices how Ino glances questioningly at Choji and Choji nods.

"During our first game, we tracked some Goblins to their camp and we found tons of things. Well, Naruto found them but he shared his findings. It's about then did Dart join us." The centaur ranger admits.

"So I... err, we might find unspoiled cloths down there? Ones that hadn't been worn?" Ino asks slowly and they both nod.

"Fine! The sooner we finish up here, the sooner we can be down there to liberate stuff from those evil midgets." Ino murmurs and he sighs.

_I should have known she'd be more interested in getting clean cloths. But then, we did put her down as Chaotic Neutral._ He admits as he refocuses on looting the dead as quickly as possible so that they can move from this area before the Kobolds' have a chance to fill it with traps.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

"What are these guys?" Tenten asks as they fend off a party of Hobgoblins in furs.

"Whatever they are, they are truly are not very youthful beings!" Lee pronounce while he's busy firing off a Magic Missile at one of the shepherds types, the ones hanging out at the back and whipping those in front in a frenzy.

"There's call Hobgoblins. Very organized and driven to kill or enslave their enemies. If we find their camp, we'll likely find people to rescue." He muses as he manages to blind one of the Hobgoblins in the right eye.

"Any idea why they keep coming for me?" Tenten asks as she beheads one of the spear carriers.

"They hate Fey and Elves." He says slowly after a minor pause when Lee takes out two of the red skinned Goblinoids by throwing one at them.

"And I'm a half-elf!" Tenten groans and he sighs.

"Yosh! I shall track down their camp and free all of those fair maidens they have wrongfully imprisoned!" Lee exclaims and most of the Hobgoblins seem to cringe away from Lee as some flames seem to sprout around the Dragonborn.

_I guess that isn't a jutsu..._ He muses at the sight while Tenten seems to sigh, "Lee..."

With the flames still surrounding him, Lee begins to tear through the ranks of Hobgoblins as if they were tissue paper. "I guess he kept pretty much all of his taijutsu skills." He muses as he notices how much many of those moves remind him of Guy and Lee's signature style.

"Well, I guess that's one thing we should be glad for." Tenten points out and he sighs, but doesn't argue as they wait as the Hobgoblins begin to become very fearful.

About three drop their weapons and flee off in a random direction, shouting out in their language. Those few Hobgoblins with bows and arrows take aim and fire at the cowards, but that doesn't stop more of the red skinned Goblinoids from mimicking their actions.

Those Hobgoblins that had been the leaders began to glance nervously at each other before looking at Lee with dawning terror as Lee literally rips the arms off of one of the few Hobgoblins still trying to attack Lee.

"This is the power of YOUTH!" Lee roars, not caring at the fact that he's covered in blood and gore.

Finally, the bosses give into their terror and flee screaming off in one particular direction. As he walks up to Lee, he puts a hand on Lee's shoulder before saying, "Easy there, Lee. We'll follow them as soon as we loot what's on the ground."

"Yea, Lee, give them time to spread their tale of terror and by the time we march on their camp, they'll had the fear of un-youthfulness in them." Tenten adds and he sends his female team-mate a slightly disapproving look at bring that up.

"You are right! But first, I must clean up before this begins to smell." Lee says with a sigh as he looks at the blood that's splattered on him.

"Yes, well, we are on the side of a snowy mountain, so I don't think it'll do anything but freeze given enough time." He muses but Lee doesn't seem to hear him as the monk moves off to the side to attend to his clothing.

"..." He just shakes his head and begins to go through a dead Hobgoblin's pockets before trying to the belt bags and then pocketing their weapons.

It didn't take long before Tenten does the same.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"Look at all this stuff!" Sakura shouts from the tent that she had decided to loot from.

He just shrugs as he continues to stuffing in everything that he can get his hands on into his bag. Watches, rings, pens, ink pots, blank sheets of paper, maps, little paintings, smoking pipes, books, tea cups, a tea pot, tea tins, and tons of other assorted things before moving onto what's in the trunks at the end of the beds.

Under the pillows of two of the beds, he found little bags filled with coins. Under another, a bag of dice while under the last bed, he found what looks to be a journal. He opens it and flips through it before closing it before pocketing it.

Glancing around, he finally decides he cleaned it out and moves on. He almost bumps into Sakura on his way out. "Sorry." She murmurs as the Weretiger looks up from counting out some coins in her hands.

"Don't bother counting them, just pocket them until we're done. Also, did you make sure to get everything that can fit into a pocket? They might not seem useful but we could always use writing instruments to leave notes for each other if we get separated or to make lists to compare who has what. It doesn't hurt that we can sell pretty much every bit of it to merchants and you don't have to worry about that being split three ways." He tells her and Sakura seems to pause with a slightly stunned expression.

"You mean all those coins I looted got split three ways? That I only got a third of them?" Sakura asks in surprise and likely a hint of outrage.

"It's true. You wouldn't believe how upset I was, specially since I was the one looting spare coins from some Goblin huts before the others decided to investigate to see if they couldn't find anything to pocket to sell later on." He tells the fighter.

Pausing, he adds, "I remember how Hinata slipped back into the hut containing Dart and all of those magical staffs. Once she left, I went in and found that she took the decorative skulls, other staffs, bone and feather decorations, dry herbs, faded scrolls, and ratty leather books. Heck, the only things she left were either too big to move, like the large cauldron and the cage Dart had been in or wouldn't be worth anything, which were the ruined pelts that were on the about the floor and broken containers and their contents."

"Did she sell any of those things?" Sakura asks curiously and he nods as he recalls their first experience with the merchants they rescued from the Bugbears.

"I think that the mystics that had been with this caravan we saved were stumbling over themselves to buy most of it, the only stuff she kept were the herbs and a few recipes for potions that Kiba might have been interested in reading to make them." He muses with a slight smile.

He hadn't paid much mind once the mystics finally managed to escort/drag Hinata off to conduct their business some place that wasn't so out in the open. It had been something considering it had caused him and one of the merchants to pause in their dealings to see what the fuss was all about.

"And none of the money she got from selling that stuff got shared with the group?" Sakura asks and he nods.

"We all had stuff by that point we collected along the way. Heck, I'm the one that had the most simply because I was the one to loot the Goblin camp first, before anyone got the bright idea to collect everything we could off our enemies. I had a huge amount of cloths that I sold before I even began to move onto the jewelry or weapons I had." He muses, not that he sold all of those cloths, just those too small for him to wear, which was a lot.

_I shudder at what kind of cloths I'd be wearing if it hadn't been for me holding onto most of those outfits. After all, most of the shops still won't sell me anything flattering._ He admits to himself. His sense of fashion had been one of the left over bits that remained from his time as a Rakshasa.

_I would have preferred their shape shifting ability..._ He thinks and it takes him a few seconds to realize that Sakura has vanished from his sight.

"Well, might as well loot the next one." He muses out loud to himself.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	23. Arc 2: Chapter 4

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"How much longer until we find a city or town? This is getting tiresome, being attacked consistently by wild beasts or vengeful beings." Sasuke grumbles as the rogue glares at some point where they're traveling towards.

"You just want to buy new blades to wield that didn't come from plundering our foes." He counters and the red skinned Sasuke gives him a hefty glare before looking away with only the slightest scowl. He couldn't help but grin toothily at the Half-Fiend's back.

_It's good to be in a position where he can't attack me without having to worry about who'll heal his injuries if I'm mad at him._ He thinks with a great deal of satisfaction. It wouldn't surprise him if Sasuke has thoughts of hiring a healer to replace him so that the hagged Uchiha could pay him back for his behavior.

_Being a half-fiend has definitely degraded his ability to shrug off insults with a cold, smug shoulder._ He muses, although it shouldn't really surprise him at how hard it is to tell which attitude comes from his character self and which comes from Sasuke's original self. _Almost interchangeable really._

Out of the corner of his eye, he finds Sakura stiffening as her head almost jerks in the direction of the next ambush. He tries to be casual about his reaching for his weapon. He's unsure if Sasuke has notice that Sakura and him were now preparing for battle.

"What race?" He asks Sakura softly and she turns to glance at him with her left eye. "Something big, something we haven't encountered before." Sakura whispers back and he frowns as he considers what this could mean.

A howl echos through the forest in which they're traveling and its soon followed by battle cries as Bugbears come charging at them with morningstars raised high and savage joy a light in their eyes. "Bugbears!" He bellows as he raises his dagger in preparation for the up coming fight.

With a cry of her own, Sakura with her broadsword counter charges the party of eight while Sasuke moves to hide in the shadows to strike from behind. He also gets ready to cast healing spells on his two team-mate.

He watches as Sakura manages to cause at least one of the Bugbears to fall to the ground with the force of her swing. As Sakura moves to deal with another, Sasuke strikes at one of the Bugbears, the attack seems to miss a vital spot and causes the enemy in question to turn to assault the Half-Fiend rogue.

He jerks his head at a soft growl coming from behind her. He turns and begins to go through the few attack spells that he knows. _Great, a Barghest. This is going to be a challenge, especially with pinky and broody being occupied with the Bugbears._ He thinks as he finally spots the mutated wolf, the likely leader of the Bugbears.

_Makes me wish I chose a scimitar instead of a dagger._ He muses as he waits for the shapechanger to attack. Tension hangs between them, a tension that's slowly beginning to wear on him.

He jerks and looks up to find that the Barghest has decided to pounce on him. He raises his dagger and as the wolf like being comes down, his dagger enters into the Barghest's gut. The beast roars in pain from the injury and his free hand goes for the beast's throat to try and choke it.

He hisses as the Barghest's claws rack his face as the shapechanger tries to get him to loose his grip on its throat. With his other hand, he twists the dagger and this causes the Barghest to yowl in pain and to thrash about. The Barghest almost squirms out of his grip but in the end, he only tightens his grip.

Barghest barks at the assorted Bugbears for help but he could only conclude that Sakura's got her hands full with them and they're also a little more concerned with Sasuke's attempts at assassination from behind. _Sasuke's really bad at when you compare him to Neji._ He thinks in a distracted way as he focuses all of his energy in strangling the Barghest with his bare hand.

As a final desperate attempt to get free, the Barghest using one of its own hand like forepaws to try and suffocate him by mimicking his attack. The Barghest grabs a hold of his throat and tries to cut off his supply of oxygen, but within a few minutes, the Barghest's grip weakens and as he rolls the wolf like being onto its back, he manages to get his dagger out of the thing's gut and slice the shapechanger's throat.

He returns to a sitting position and pants, ignoring the stinging wounds that were on his face. Finally, he gives himself a shake and swallows once he closes his mouth. He turns his head to find Sasuke's laying on the ground with a deep shoulder injury with Sakura trying to stop the bleeding by pressing down on it.

"If you had finish with the Bugbears, you could have killed that so I can attend to him quicker." He tells Sakura. The red head jerks her head slightly and the look she gives him makes it clear that she had forgotten all about him once Sasuke had fallen to the ground.

With a minor glare at the embarrassed red head, he casts two Cure Light Wounds on Sasuke's fallen form before digging around in his pouch for a potion. He tosses it to Sakura who soon pours it down Sasuke's throat. Within seconds, Sasuke's breathing much more easily while he's using Cure Minor Wounds on himself to get rid of the claw marks on his face.

"You really need to keep your head on your shoulder, Sakura and not being to panic when Sasuke falls to the ground with a single, bleeding injury." He adds and Sakura just nods as tears begin to fall from her eyes.

He just sighs before he turns his attention to the corpses of Bugbears. It didn't take him long to realize that at least two of the Bugbears have flee from battle, likely when Sakura sliced the offending Bugbear that had stroke Sasuke down in half.

_Great, now we're going have to fend off another, much more organized group of Bugbears and Barghest before nightfall._ He thinks as he kneels down to start looting from the dead. He can still hear Sakura soft sobs as items and coins vanish into his bag of holding.

)**-o-**(

**Gaara**

"Looks like another Genin team." Temari muses as softly as she could considering that she has a beak. "Should we creep away or confront them?" His sister wonders after a few seconds of silence.

He didn't really care either way as his thoughts were still circling around the fact that not only does he not have sand jumping up to protect him but he actually has to put some effort into killing those he's facing off against. He rubs a sore spot on his arm, a spot where just last night he had been force to block a short sword.

_I'm not sure if I like seeing my blood exit out of my body._ He thinks to himself, ignoring the minor debate going on between the two siblings. He suddenly yawns and that seems to stop the two in mid-argument to saw in slight horror at him before they recall the fact that he no longer has a blood thirsty demon within him.

He gives the pair a glare as he mentally tries to shrug off the desire to sleep. _Which is harder then it is when you don't have a chatter box of a demon in your head._ He privately admits as he blinks rapidly as his vision seems to go blurry.

_Why is it that during the night I feel energetic and during the day I feel as if I should just curl up and go to sleep?_ He wonders and his hand goes to a certain necklace that's hanging from his neck. On it is a pendant that's made out of cheap looking metal that seems to be a bat hanging upside down on a crystal tree branch.

He blinks as he notices that the crystal seem to have turned totally teal in color, which is kind of strange since it had been clear when he examined it on the first day. With a sterner frown fixated on his face, he touches the crystal with his free index finger and before the nail touches it, he feels a slight jolt.

Not one to be deterred, he does touch the teal crystal and suddenly a much stronger jolt flares, one that causes him to let go of the pendant. He winces as he feels another jolt enter into his body viva his chest, where the pendant hit him after he let go. As his heart begins to race, he finds it pretty much impossible to direct his limbs.

He feels like screaming as he falls to the ground, his vision is now swimming and his other senses are going haywire. Suddenly he feels numb and he hears gasps coming from his two older siblings. His head is pounding and it takes him a second to realize that he's no just hearing his own heart beat, but Kankuro and Temari's as well.

But it wasn't long before he had other concerns then his improvement of one of his senses as he finds that the world seems to be getting bigger and bigger as he's drawn into a tunnel or something. Finally the numbness vanishes and he lets out a piercing shriek.

He tries to stand but his hands just seem to be too big. "Gaara?" He hears Temari say, her voice like thunder.

Finally he sees her beak and with some help, he finally frees himself from the pit, only to discover that the pit consists of his armor. He also gets a good look at his own body and finds out why his hands hadn't been able to help him.

_They became wings... What am I?_ He wonders as he turns his head this way and that, trying to find something reflective to use as a mirror.

Then the pounding on his head happens once more and he finds that it's only Kankuro laughing and in between chuckles, his brother manages to say, "Aren't we lucky? We now have a bat for a baby brother!"

He scowls but it seems lost on Kankuro. He extends his wings once Temari places him down as her grip on his body had kept him from opening his wings. It takes him a few minutes to roll onto his back and study his new feet.

Rolling off of his back, he begins to move awkwardly about, minor vows of vengeance on the blond flare up until something new crops up, something that makes him pause as he considers the idea.

Oddly enough, he instinctively knew how to test this new idea. His foot long body tenses and with a leap, he's in the air. With a few flaps, he's not only in the air but ascending higher into the air.

A series of clicks erupt from his throat without him thinking about it and as he closes his eyes, he finds mental pictures of the forest entering into his mind through his ears. The thrill begins to wane and he begins to feel not just tired, but hungry as well.

_I guess this explains why I want to be nocturnal._ He admit sleepily as he finds a branch to hang from. With a yawn, he gives way to those feelings of exhaustion.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	24. Arc 2: Chapter 5

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Neji**

"Looks like a ruin." He murmurs to himself as he studies the decaying cavern wall that leads deeper into the mountain. He touches the fade stone face that's been carved into the stone tunnel.

"They escaped deeper into the tunnel. Should we chase after them?" Tenten asks him and he frowns as he considers their opinions now that they've looted what they can from the red skinned Goblins.

"We should proceed slowly, they likely had plenty of time to place traps throughout this underground strong hold and they likely know where they're placed as well. I almost wish I were a rogue so that I can pick out where the traps are." He says to Tenten as he recalls how it had been second nature for him to find and disable traps during his time as a Drow rogue.

"Well, hindsight is twenty twenty." Tenten says and he smiles slightly at that.

"So then, are we ready to continue?" Lee asks as he withdraws his hand from the faded carving to glance first at Lee and then at Tenten.

"We'll follow after them but be on your guard, there are likely an assortment of monsters waitings besides traps and the remaining Hobgoblins." He tells them and then get sober looks on their faces as the two nod in agreement.

"Right." Lee and Tenten says in stereo and he couldn't help but grin at the pair of them. He straightens as he turns to look down the tunnel that leads deeper into the mountain. To where the Hobgoblins had fled.

Then, without so much as a word, he begins to walk deeper into the mountain. It wasn't long before he hears Lee and Tenten following after him. He even creates a orb of light to light the way.

-)**T**(-

"What is this thing?" Tenten demands. "A mutated squid?" The arrow fired from her bow slices through one of the tentacles about the monster's neck, causing the green foe to roar in pain.

"I think the least of our problems are identifying it." He counters as he frantically looks around for a promising spot where a spell would be most effective against their current foe. _It really would help if Lee hadn't raced off after those fleeing Hobgoblins before this thing appeared..._

He watches as Tenten finally stops using her bow and draws her sword to attack the monster. With a frustrated sigh, he just growls and manages to fling a few stones into the monster's mouth using Magic Hand.

This causes the green monster to make gagging noises as it tries to spit out the stones, its head pointing downward to help get rid of said rocks. Within seconds, Tenten fires off a few arrows at the back of the creature's head.

The monster jerks slightly before falling flat on its belly with its eyes and mandibles twitching. Tenten takes out her sword and approaches the felled foe in caution while he watches. With five swings of the blade, Tenten finally finishes the job and he sighs in relief.

"Just look at how thin these teeth are." Tenten muses as she moves to get a closer look at the envenomed fangs that the dead mutated snake thing possesses. Tenten taps her sword point on the yellow stained teeth.

"They must shed them a lot throughout their lives." He muses as he joins Tenten at staring at the dead monster. "I wonder if those tentacles acted like its hands?"

Finally, they just sigh before they begin to look at each other, sizing each other up. "Well... might as well see if its swallowed anything of value recently." He muses and Tenten glances from his weapon to the blood stained sword.

"Fine, but the next thing we kill had better be small enough for you to gut using your dagger." Tenten growls at him as she shakes her sword to get rid of some of the blood on it before she stalks forward to piece the area under the tentacles before slowly slicing open the corpse of the monster.

He did have to help to roll the beast onto its side and even helped by handing a whetstone to Tenten so she can sharpen her blade; after she cleans it of blood and bits of flesh of course. It took a while, mostly using a pair of spears, but they did find a few interesting looking items within the beast, although they could tell that the monster has eaten at least three Hobgoblins since they did pull out their almost consumed bodies out of the entrails of the monster.

Most of the metal items inside of the creature had a great deal of acid damaged done to them, he's not sure if they're even worth taking. He's kind of curious about the gemstone on said items and once they grew too faint poking around in the open entrails of this monster, he begins to try and salvage the gemstones from the jewelry and other objects that have them on display. He is careful to use a rag to touch the damaged items too.

Once they pocketed what loot they cared to take, they begin to head off in the direction of their missing team-mate in hopes that nothing too serious has happened to the monk.

-)**T**(-

"Why is Lee sitting on that throne?" Tenten whispers to him and he just shrugs. "Beats me, but I don't particularly like the look of that crown on his head. I think, for now, we take some time to rest up before we decide to confront them." He says, knowing full well that he needs time in order to mentally prepare a list of spells.

"Fine, but I could just end it right here by sniping that crown off." Tenten grumbles softly as he takes out his spell book to begin studying it.

)**-o-**(

**Shikamaru**

"Looks like the rest pulled back into the mine as soon as Ino managed to light that gunpowder bomb." Choji says with a slight hoof pawing at the ground when his friend even mention the bomb they decided to use as a distraction.

"Troublesome." He sighs as he tries to decide whether they should pursue the Kobolds deeper into the mine or if they should finish their looting before they move on. While the idea of leaving any of the Kobolds alive caused him to feel... dirty at even thinking about it, he knows that remaining here would only benefit them very slightly and take time out of their primary mission of locating the scroll that describes the portal they need to use to pass this test.

"You think we should pursue them?" He asks Choji and the ranger just crosses his arms over his chest while giving him a level look before turning to face the slightly barracked mine opening. "I should have known." He muses before turning to look back to where they left Ino.

"So, how are we going to break this news to Ino?" He wonders out loud after a period of silence hanging between them.

"I might as well do so. I think my size kind of scares her a tiny bit." Choji admits and he nods in agreement with that.

Before they begin to head back to the camp, he hears Choji sigh. He gives his friend a questioning glance and Choji answers his unspoken question, "It's times like these that I wish Naruto were here. He's generally good at lighting the mood."

He smiles faintly in agreement as he begins to walk back to the camp. He can only hope that Ino finds cloths to her liking among the various chests and crates that were scattered about the mining compound. _Hopefully nothing too damaging lies within the mine, I rather not find out what happens if we die during this exam..._

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	25. Arc 2: Chapter 6

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Dart**

"Where is everyone?" He wonders as he circles the forest where Naruto had told him they're going to be at. The various beasts within the forest didn't really bother him during his look see about the mighty looking oaks and whatnot.

Finally, he lands by this mat with a bunch of different figurines on it and metal keeps and towers. A single cast of Detect Magic reveals just how magical the mat and the rest were. "And he said that ninja don't use magic..." He says as he moves around the mat to take a look at the books.

He cocks his head to the side at the titles on the various text books. He sighs as he says out loud, "Ah... why couldn't I join in the fun? It would have been nice to at least visit something akin to my homeland."

He takes to the air and moves to hover over the board for a few seconds before he begins to peek down at various parties of three, although there is this one with five but he figures that it wouldn't contain the person he's looking for. A minor window appears as he draws close to a group of three and finds that none of them had the right characteristics to be Naruto or any of the others.

On his third attempt, he finds Neji and his party. "Hey you guys! Looking good greenie, the scales are a very good touch!" He says softly but the three turn to look at him. _"Dart! What are you doing here? I thought Naruto asked you not to attend this part of the exam."_ The tiny being who looks similar to Neji and yet had subtle differences.

"He did, but it's been a whole day since then and I just wanted to take a peek to know how you all are." He answers and on hearing that, it seems as if all three of their jaws came loose as they fell open. _"It's been, like, two years!"_ Tenten shouts at him.

"Well, this is a very large playing mat..." He admits since it's at least six lengths of him going east to west and ten lengths of him going south to north. _"Anko must have something to do with the time difference..."_ Neji says with a groan and he just shrugs the best he can.

_"Twenty-four hours in a day with could mean that every hour is a month in here..."_ Greenie says, clearly stunned by the idea. _"That means that Gai hasn't given up hope on us! Yosh! My fire! Once more it burns brightly!"_ Greenie declares and he just twitches his tail in dismissal since it didn't have anything to do with him, although he is once more impressed by the fact that a fire has once more appeared about Greenie's frame.

"Ah! A monk, well, I guess that isn't a magical trick that Greenie uses to sprout those flames..." He murmurs thoughtfully and Tenten says, _"Yes, well, as nice as it is to see you, I don't suppose you're willing to tell us if there are other teams around us?"_

He pulls his head up and moves to hover another group, he sticks his head close enough to cause the window to open and finds a group of unknowns. _"Please tell me there's something in my water..."_ The necromancer says as the white furred tigerman looks down into his water skin.

"Hi, how are you? I just want to know, were you originally ninja of leaf?" He asks and the three glance at each other. He's a bit more interested in the fact that one of them seems to be some kind of bat lycanthrope.

_"If we are, then what?"_ The short crow humanoid asks in a girl's voice. "Well, if you travel south and west, you'll run into another Leaf party, one of whom is a very good friend of mine." He says with a mischievous grin on his face, oh, he knows he shouldn't have given that information away but he wants to see just what a meeting of this group and Neji's could result in.

_"Then yes, yes we are Leaf ninja."_ The Ak'chazar Rakshasa says as he and the bird person nod their head. "Alright then, carry on in that direction and I'll go tell them not to alter their course." He says in a bright, cheerful tone and pulls out of the window.

He studies the group before moving back to Neji's position. "Just keep heading northwest and you'll run into a friendly group." He tells them and they seem highly relieved. "Well, I'm off to try and find Naruto, see you in a bit!"

He did wonder briefly, if the two groups had already run into each other before but decides that it doesn't matter as he once more begins to each group of three for his dear, bewhiskered friend. He did grow bored of shocking various groups after a third time they reacted to his presence.

He did find, on fifth try, Hinata and those ones. _"Dart? Is that you?"_ Kiba asks while Akamaru echo that by a woof. "Well, well, from Warlock to Celestial, must have been a rough transition, huh?" He muses and the Hound Archon just sighs.

_"Have you seen Naruto?"_ Hinata asks and he just sighs as he shakes his head. "Not yet, although I did find your cousin about two thirds of me northeast of you. And no, it hasn't been two years out here, just twenty-four hours have passed." He says and he allowed himself to be amused by their reaction to that news.

_"Have you see Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino?"_ Shino asks and he shakes his head in a slow and deliberate motion. "Sorry, but I'm sure I'll locate them in time." He answers.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to decide on your course of action now. See you later!" He says and pulls himself out of the window.

This time, he carefully glances around the map before heading for this group who's in this city from the looks of things. He finds that the members seem to be split up. He picks one of the figurines and to his surprise, finds who he's been looking for. "Naruto!" He calls out at the blond who seems to be playing some kind of game that involves him being chained to a chair.

_"Ah... I'm kind of busy, but it would be great if you can find Sakura to tell her where I am."_ Naruto says in a voice that he almost didn't hear. He nods and moves to where the closest figurine had been without withdrawing from the window.

"Red hair just seems to add something to your look, Sakura." He says while wondering why it is that she's wearing one hell of a claymore. Not that he's really interested in human females...

_"Dart? Dart! Have you seen Naruto? Sasuke and him headed out to some meeting point with a wizard to bargain for enchanted materials to repair this magical ship that I received as a reward for some challenge I won."_ Sakura says and he blinks as he says, "Well, it didn't look like Naruto was in the middle of bargaining with anybody, not unless it was for his life while welding this staff..."

_"Where is Sasuke? Was he with Naruto in this fight?"_ Sakura demands with an odd edge to her tone, one that seems to be like a growl or snarl.

"I haven't check on him yet, but Naruto's two buildings over." He says and Sakura stalks off with her huge claymore in hand. He turns slightly and watches her go before pulling himself out of the window to find Sasuke.

"Huh, I wonder what Sakura's reaction will be on learning that you're being tormented by some kinky woman while chained to the bed." He wonders at Sasuke who not only has dry blood marring what's left of his shirt but sweat. _"Naruto... fight... game..."_ Sasuke croaks before the half-fiend faints.

"I already know that." He says with a roll of his eyes. He pulls out and head off to inform the other two of what's going on with Naruto and his party.

)**-o-**(

**Sakura**

Without missing a step, she kills the two guards at the gate before using her claymore to destroy the weak, rusty gate that leads into the private game hall of the Sorceress of Early Dawn. _I knew something must have come up when they didn't appear by noon the next day..._ She thinks as she continues towards the main building and continues not to miss a step as various thugs appear out of the shadows to attack her.

They weren't much of a challenge to her, not after dealing with various waves of Orcs in defense of a pass while Naruto tries to save Sasuke's life from some enchanted poison or after dealing with a Frost Giant in conditions that had favored the giant.

The two guards at the door fled by the time she got within sword range of the door. A kick causes the doors to open wide and she shifts into her hybrid form at the sound of cheers. A number of statues suddenly spring to life but they crumbled under the weight of her claymore and power of her swing.

She manages to block a few crossbow bolts coming from behind with her huge sword. **"Get. Lost. Now!"** She snarls at the assassins as she glares at them with her fangs bared.

Two faint but the rest try and fire at her with another round of bolts. She slams the edge of her claymore into the floor before her and picks up a bit of statue. It hits the first pair and they land on the back one with the stone statue bit rolling a few more feet, likely crushing the group even more.

Not that she cares as she grabs a hold of her sword and yanks it out of the floor boards as she continues down the hall. On entering the indoor arena, she just scowls at the sight of Naruto trying to make due with his broken staff. She glances around to see if Dart is looking on but it seems as if he weren't.

_Well, it's not as if he could do anything anyway._ She admits as she walked down to the edge of the seats and then begins to whirl her sword around. When she lets it fly, it hits the magical orb that powers the enchantments of this game.

"Thanks Sakura!" Naruto shouts as the Shifter does a kick into his opponent's groin before backing away to cast some spell. The others who were chain roar in approval of their freedom and turned on those 'masters' in the chairs while the crowd did nothing but cheer at the violence going on.

She makes her way to her fallen claymore and sighs at the damage done from destroying the magical orb. "Sasuke is pretty banged up and chained in her chambers." Naruto says as the viewing scroll burns to ashes now that its been used.

"Oh... Well... Let's got save his red ass then." She says and Naruto raises an eyebrow but doesn't comment on it. By the time they make it to arena entrance that leads into the back parts of the arena, she turns and asks, "You do know where he is, right?"

"I do, but I believe we could kill two birds with one stone by grabbing the stuff we need from the warehouse built to connect to the manor where Sasuke is." Naruto says as the blond Shifter begins to pocket various potions and scrolls from some secret cabinet that's next to the entrance/exit they came through.

"Well, that's handy." She muses and Naruto just nods in agreement. "Well, they do need immediate medical attention coming off of the arena floor." Naruto points out and she just sighs as she says, "I didn't think they would make such an investment in their... players."

Naruto doesn't reply and once he's emptied the lot into his bag, the druid takes the lead while guards gave them a wide berth as they move into the arena floor to try and capture the other players.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

"What do you mean Sasuke's chained to a bed and looks like he's been tortured while Naruto's chained up to some chair?!" He demands and Dart just huffs.

**"It's exactly as it sounds! Don't worry, sword girl Sakura is on her way to rescue Naruto."** Dart states with a flash of pointed teeth. He couldn't help but stare dumbly up at the floating head of the Faerie Dragon, trying to come to terms to what that implies in the grand scheme of things.

"Sword girl?" He murmurs in a dazed fashion. After all, he had expected Naruto to make his female team-mate into a healer or magic user, not a warrior.

"I guess that makes Naruto the wizard of the group?" Tenten muses and Dart snorts. **"I'd say druid since he seemed to have this forest thing clinging to him. Or it could be because his staff had a carving of a stage on one end..."** Dart muses thoughtfully, even going so far as to cock his head to the side.

"Doesn't that still make him a type of magic user and divine healer?" Lee asks and he nods as he concerns the possible reason behind Naruto's choice in making Sakura the heavy hitter and himself the... well... he doubts that Naruto's weak, not if they've lasted two game years, but Naruto definitely can't the most powerful of his team in physical terms.

"And Sasuke Uchiha's a half-fiend, huh? I would bet my gold that Naruto made him a rogue too." He murmurs as he turns away from Naruto's role on the team to hazard a guess to the third member of that trio.

**"Well, I'm going to tell Hinata and them about this. I'll tell them you said hi!"** Dart says and the huge, scaly head belonging to Dart seems to vanish in the sky above, leaving them, once more, alone.

"I guess we can't really do much about their situation other then pray it ends with them coming out of it more or less alive." Tenten says and he send a slight smile in her direction, more then a little glad for her presence at his side. Tenten blushes and turns to look away.

He moves and brushes some of her bangs from her forehead. As Tenten looks up and leans forward to kiss him... Lee coughs and they look away from each other, it's been pretty hard to stick to their conviction to not pursue a relationship while within this world but it was just so hard.

"Right, let's get moving." Tenten says as she steps pass him as he just finds himself staring off into the distance. Lee pats him on his shoulder and he tries to clamp down on his emotions to follow after his two team-mates.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	26. Arc 2: Chapter 7

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Shikamaru**

_This could have gone better._ He decides as he watches as Ino and this stable manager continue not just attracting attention, but get louder, which he hadn't expected to happen. Choji just sighs as the exchange going on before them gets to the point where he's sure the two would begin to physically attack each other.

It didn't take long for the feminine part of the crowd to begin to flutter their eyelashes at him as they begin to gossip about him. _Maybe picking a Satyr wasn't the best idea I had... Although, combined with me being a bard, it seem to go a long way to help when it comes to managing a disgruntled Ino._ He muses as he recalls the seduction part of his list selection when it comes to minion recruiting.

"This is pointless." Choji says and he just shrugs. "I think she's frustrated that our lead not only didn't pan out but we got robbed by that unit sent by the Oriental Serpent Magus of the Order of Lekmann for those spell books we recovered before the Haunting Road village vanished once more." He remarks to Choji.

"They could have at least asked politely." The ranger Centaur admits and he smiles slightly before something... or better, someone arrives over behind Ino's back. "Is that Dart?" He hears Choji asks and he tries not to look straight at the scaly, floating head.

**"Huh... I was beginning to think I wouldn't find you guys. Nice looking horns, Shikamaru! Is that Ino? What's up with the scaly look?"** Dart says and he couldn't help but find it refreshing that somebody hasn't changed in the two years they've been trapped within this world.

"What the..." Ino finally stops short of her shouting to glance around in a suspicious manner and almost jumps on seeing Dart's floating head. Ino glances over at them and seems to cause the stable manager to freeze with a look of satisfaction on his face.

"Ok people, nothing to see here. So, shush! Go on, get!" Ino declares as she begins to chase people away as she realizes that they're the only ones capable of seeing Dart's giant floating head.

Reluctantly, the locals and others finally head away now that the shouting match as come to some kind of close with an application of magic then a fist fight. "Just how many teams are there left?" Choji asks and Dart hums for a few seconds before answering, **"I can't way because I don't know how many teams there's suppose to be."**

"Troublesome." Ino says with a sigh as she continues to glance around, trying to see if they're being observed. **"Anyway, it looks like Naruto and them are back together. Who would have thought that sword girl Sakura would manage to save Naruto, huh?"** Dart says and he couldn't help but start up at Dart in a slightly dumbfounded manner.

"Sakura's the heavy hitter?" He asks and Dart nods. **"It also turns out she's a Weretiger too. Naruto's a Shifter druid and Sasuke is a half-fiend rogue."** Dart informs them, which pretty much clears a few things up for him when it comes to who's what on Team 7.

"Well, that kind of puts my worries at ease in regards to Naruto staying healthy even if Sakura is still focused Sasuke." Choji admits with a slight smile with a hoof pawing into the dirt that's covering the stone paved road. "Sakura isn't that callous." Ino counters and he couldn't help but counter, "She broke up your friendship, years in the making, just because of a boy."

**"I just thought you two got into an argument about who's hair is a prettier color."** Dart offers and he just smiles slightly as he has a private chuckle since girls have broken their ties to each other over sillier things then Dart's example. **"Anyway, Neji's team is about to hook up with another team, Hinata and them might be holding up in some place far southeast of your position, and Naruto and them have left the city I found them in with Sasuke recovering from getting tortured."** Dart continues to say despite Ino being clearly wanting to pick a bone or two with the fairy dragon.

"Have you seen any figurines other then teams of three?" He asks and Dart hums thoughtfully as he answers, **"Well, there is this team of five but I haven't check in on them. Why, are their suppose to be others in the game other then yourselves?"**

"A team of five... are you sure its not just two groups of three?" He asks with a frown. **"I'm sure since each individual group's figurines have different color schemes. For example, you're team's got this silver and dark purple color while Neji's team's got this off white and bright teal color."** Dart says before adding, **"All of that five members of said party have the same bright red and common blue color scheme. So, yea, they are together."**

"Is this party close to us? Or to the others?" Choji asks and Dart says, **"Wait a second and I'll check."**

Dart's head vanishes as the head moves higher into the 'sky'. "Maybe while we wait, you can do something about him?" Choji says to Ino as the ranger thumbs over at the frozen stable manager.

"Might as well." Ino says with a thin smile as she walks over to finish the discussion. He shakes his head at her antics. "Can you imagine how one sided her ninja battles will be once we're home?" Choji muses softly to him and he could indeed imagine since he had been one of the magic users from the first time, although without his patron god, he had trouble with most of his spells until he figured out how to power them using his own chakra.

_Although I'm not sure if Kiba figured out that trick or not..._ He wonders and by the time Ino did finish with the getting Choji's 'room' at a cheaper price since Choji wouldn't need any grains, a brushing, or watering, just a place to rest for the night. The reason why a shouting match didn't start back up is likely because the manager didn't want to be transformed into a mare like Ino originally threatened now that Ino proved that she is indeed a sorceress.

Dart arrives and the dragon says, after picking up where the conversation had left off about an hour ago, **"The closest group that five member one is close to is Neji's party. I'm not sure if they'll end up meeting up at any point though since that group is heading east and Neji's heading west."**

"So... how things been in the village?" Ino asks as they digest this bit of information. **"It's fine and no, two years haven't pass, just a signal day."** Dart tells them.

"You've had this conversation before, I see." He says in a dry tone. **"Yea, although I haven't had it with Naruto's group as of yet. It's likely because they're kind of absorbed with their own immediate problems then at my sudden appearance."** The fairy dragon says.

"Well, who's currently in charge? I mean, have you even thought to report to Lord Hokage about Anko's using of this game as the second part of the Chunin exam?" Choji asks and Dart just blinks. **"I kind of arrive at this mat in under an hour ago."** Dart informs them and he blinks before he realizes that there must be some kind of time displacement when Dart isn't shown as a floating head.

"You weren't gone for long when you check on that team, were you?" He asks Dart slowly and the dragon's chin moves up and down in agreement. "Ok, here's a question, can you judge the half way point for each of our teams? With you, we might be able to hook up with the others before another two month or so months passes for us in here." He says and Dart hums thoughtfully before nodding.

**"I'll do what I can and I'll inform the others when I find the mid-point, I'll let the others know along with you!"** Dart says and withdraws back up into the sky, leaving them alone once more. "Well, at least we got somebody on the outside to help coordinate ourselves." Ino muses and he agrees.

"I wonder if having Dart help us counts against us in this test?" Choji wonders and he just sighs as he heads towards the inn to get something for dinner.

)**-o-**(

**Gaara**

"So... what are we going to do when we hook up with this group this 'floating' head told us about?" Temari wonders as they rest for the night after traveling in the direction the floating head had suggested for them to head in. "I mean, is this head trust worthy?" She adds.

"It looks like some kind of dragon." Kankuro admits after a few seconds of silence. "Just what are dragons like in this world?" He asks Kankuro as he tries to recall what he knew about the creatures back home.

"Well, for one thing, there's metallic types and chaotic types. The metallic types appear to be more of the good guy types with chaotic types appear to be more manic bad guy types. Each color and metal type had their own breath weapon that's their signature like Blacks with acid and Golds with flame." Kankuro explains.

"In this world, the dragons prefer to inhabit the southern islands where it's easier to control the weather to make their lives more comfortable. It also helps that those islands were blessed by all of the Earth and Mining deities to always be rich in mineral resources like gold, diamonds, and iron." Kankuro adds in a bit more of a wistful tone.

"I take it that such riches are the major exports while red meats are major imports?" Temari asks and Kankuro's white furry head nods up and down. "Correct."

"Interesting... I wonder how hard they work to mine said resources?" He wonders as he flickers his ears around, trying to find a strong heartbeat from around him.

"I don't know for sure, but I think about every fifty or so years the pan out mines get sealed for about five or so years before becoming unsealed. Of course the mine needs to be dug again. I'm not sure if the mine gets enriched by the exact same mineral or not." Kankuro answers.

"So it's like one big, continuous cycle of resource renewal. Those gods must have thought pretty far ahead to come up with something like that." He muses and his male sibling nods in agreement. "I wonder where we'll get our extra income once we've mined our dessert iron pockets?" Temari wonders with a hint of bitterness.

His ears perk as he hears something breath but no heartbeat. **"Hiya folks! Good to see that you've taken my advice. Now then, I'm here to let you know that your new goal is a place called Courtship of Fire and Ice."** The floating head informs them.

"There's more Leaf ninja heading for that place?" Temari asks after a few seconds of silence. **"Well, it was Shikamaru's idea to find a midway point where all you Leaf Genin to meet up at."** The scaly being tells them with a toothy grin.

"Ok... Thanks for the update... Err... just what kind of dragon are you, by the by?" Kankuro asks and the dragon cocks his head slightly to the side before answering, **I'm Dart the Faerie Dragon. My kind are native to the plane of Feywild."**

"Dart... You're name is Dart?" Kankuro says in disbelief and Dart hums. **"It might not be the one my parents gave me but it's the one I gave to myself!"** Dart says and adds, **"Well, since that's done, I'm off to go report to the Hokage about Anko using this game that's suppose to be under lock and key. See ya later!"**

The head of Dart vanishes from the darkening sky. "Do we even know where this Courtship of Fire and Ice?" Kankuro wonders and he just shrugs in reply. "I'm sure we'll come across somebody to ask sooner or later." He states as he moves to fill his water skin after drinking his fill.

)**-o-**(

**Anko**

_Looks like my time displacement description on the back of the mat really did pan out. It's good to know that this place can't be located even from outside of the game world._ She muses after reading a report that one of the Chunin had made detailing a few of the various meetings Dart's having with certain teams entered in this Chunin Exam.

"How goes our interrogation of those spies? Particularly Kabuto Yakushi?" She asks since it had been at least three months since those three found themselves facing an opponent they had the misfortune losing too.

When a party of Genin 'die' beyond this 'tower', they shed those bodies and arrive as spirits. They remain spirits for a full twenty-four hours before being placed into an artificial body. The bodies were about three feet in height with a build of an ape or monkey. The bodies didn't have a gender and headbands with their village symbol on it usually appear around their necks.

With Kabuto and his team, not only did they gain a headband with Leaf symbol on it, but one with the symbol of Sound as well. Naturally curious about this, they planned to ask about that. They acted quickly but they didn't the artificial bodies weren't meant to be used for anything other then housing the 'dead' Genin, so it hadn't been hard to capture one.

_Not even that girl knew about Kabuto and his team being spies._ She muses as she recalls how eventful Tayuya's interrogations had been when the girl arrived after being killed by her old teacher for some minor slight. _She did, finally, agree to cooperate on the condition that we put her into secure cells once we're out of the game and for a safe house within Hidden Leaf once everything is settled down._

"The other two cracked after a month. Kabuto on the other hand... It seems he's in a coma now but we have people working on how to get at the information he's sitting on. We have some evidence that he had a memory seal placed on him but it had been totally removed since entering into the game." The Chunin before her reports before adding, "Much like Tayuya and your Curse Seals."

"Have you mindwiped the interrogation and the appearance of two headbands from them?" Iruka asks from her left as she searches for the file on the two traitors' interrogation. She had a feeling that she'll be hearing some strong words from the council about accidentally borrowing all active Chunin for this observation tower, but it's not as if she expected the world to draw in every active Leaf Chunin within the village.

"Yes sir and they seem to believe they fell into a depression of sorts and had been isolated because of that." The Chunin reports. With a nod from her, the Chunin retreats to go back to doing his duties as she finally finds the file she needs.

"This is taking a pretty long time to complete." Iruka says and she couldn't help but point out, "Well, last time they only had to find one item. This time, not only are they looking for the scroll key but trying to figure out what the gate looks like. They also had help from Shino and myself."

"They also were all together so they had a better chance of surviving." Iruka counters and she smiles slightly. "Well, one of them will likely decide they need to meet up and, through Dart, organize the likeliness spot for such a hook up." She points out.

"But that doesn't forge them into one group even if they decide to travel together." The academe teacher points out.

She couldn't help but say, "Actually, Naruto just might be the key. He has in his possession a certain item that he obviously created in hopes of keeping his old fighter skills once this game is completed. Since he's a druid, he might find a way to tap into old allegiances that the item could be used to renew."

"May I?" Iruka and she waves him off. The academe teacher heads to find said file within the Hall of Records.

_I wonder how those Sand kids managed to create their characters? It's obvious to anyone that those are custom character sheets..._ She muses for a few seconds before she finds a few interesting fact that those traitors had discovered about a certain council member.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	27. Arc 2: Chapter 8

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"The ship looks good, doesn't it?" He muses as he sits down next to Sakura while Sasake continues work on the Astral Skiff Sakura received as a reward after competing in some strange four week challenge where his friend and team-mate had to face a new trail every week ranging from making it through this maze to get some wooden goblet to picking some mage's familiar out in a zoo.

Of course during those four week Sasuke and he had gone on their own adventures, singly or together. _Not that Sakura ever wondered what we did during that time... Although, why have those people been calling Sasuke Scout of Nightmares?_ He wondedr for a few seconds while Sakura sighs.

"I just can't help but feel guilty about not trusting Sasuke..." The red haired weretiger admits. "Well, it would help if he'd stop threatening to sell us to the highest bidder every second day or when the going gets too rough..." He points out.

Sakura sighs and he lies down on the grass to stare up at the sky. "Dart hasn't visited in some time, has he?" Sasuke says after dropping off the side of the magical transport.

"Well, it's not as if we're following his directions to hook up with those other teams..." Sakura admits and he hums in agreement. "Do you really think this Astral Skiff is haunted?" He asks the two.

"Does it matter? This boat will be our way to win this exam. It was a lucky break for any of us winning it." Sasuke points out and he might not have a clear view of Sakura's face but he did wonder if she were frowning or what.

"Might be a trick, you know. This is a plane vehicle, allowing for inter-dimensional travel. Which is the whole goal of the Chuunin exam game." Sasuke tells them and he shrugs as best as he can since he's lying on the ground.

"I guess we could always try and find a priest to preform an exorcism." He suggests and neither of his team-mates seem to have anything to say for or against that suggestion. "Looks like it's going to be a beautiful night, huh?" He says as the other two join him on staring up into the sky.

"Yea, it does, doesn't it?" Sakura says before sighing. "I just hope this really works is all." The warrior adds in a soft tone filled with hope and yet expecting it to fail miserably.

)**-o-**(

**Shikamaru**

"We're getting closer to Courtship of Fire and Ice is just a few days travel over these hills before we reach it." Ino says after spending a few minutes using a compass and the map they managed to buy after stopping at some small farming homestead to buy some fresh food like bread and butter.

"Just look at those dark cloud hanging about in that direction... I wonder if the storm front will be heading our way..." Choji wonders while pawing the ground with a hoof.

He steps out of the stream with his spear, the fish he managed to spear were resting on a flat stone a few feet from the bank of the stream. He frowns as he stares down at his own hooves and then focuses on his reflection. With a shake of his head, he turns away from the water's surface to continue to move out of the flow of water, which he couldn't help but feel as if something is missing from this experience.

_Likely has something to do with the fact that I lack toes._ He decides as he shakes a hoof for a few seconds before doing the same as he leaves hoof prints in the sandy band. "It'll be nice to see some friendly faces again." Ino says with a sigh as she finishes putting the compass and map away while Choji finishes unloading the fire wood he collected.

"Miss gazing at Uchiha's 'handsome' face?" He taunts as he gathers the few fish he speared while both Choji and Ino had been gone preforming their own chores.

Ino just huffs at him while he sits down to gut the fish while Ino takes out a kinder kit to start the fire. "Like you're not miss dealing with Naruto or Kiba's antics." Ino counts as she works with the flint.

_I miss watching Naruto to see what kind of luck he displays..._ He mentally edits as he tosses some fish guts into the wood pile that's waiting for Ino's efforts to pay off. "I wonder if anyone has manage to find the scroll needed to locate this portal."

"If we haven't found it then I doubt anybody's found it." Choji points out and Ino seems to agree with Choji's observation.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

_You'd think we'd have lost them by now. Damn Owlbears... It's not as if they can track us by scent! Not with those beaks!_ He mentally growls as they make camp on a rocky hill top, using the rocks as make shift walls as they use what's about, which turns out to be using a simple leather thong and what small stones are laying about. They weren't choosy about which stones either as they try to defend their 'camp'.

"Neji? Are these things suppose to have two heads?" Lee asks as he watches as one of the stones hit an Owlbear's beak before hitting an eye ridge. "No, why?" He asks his team-mate.

"Well then, maybe you should tell him!" Lee shouts and with a frown, he turns to find a two headed Owlbear charging Lee. "Crap." He curses as he grips his dagger and trying hard not to bite his lower lip, he throws the dagger as hard as he can.

The dagger flies through the air but only the hilt hits the Owlbear in its upper chest. One of the heads jerks up to screech at him with its pair of ruby red eyes. _I wonder who's responsible for creating that monstrosity... I wonder who's territory we've wondered into now?_ He wonders as he finally resorts to a spell.

Within seconds a wall of fire erupts between the monk and the two headed Owlbear which causes both heads to screech out in protest. "Thanks!" Lee says as the Dragonborn picks up the dagger he threw.

With a shake of his head, he returns to using his sling to pelt the incoming Owlbears. The rocks didn't seem to do more then enrage the beasts but it was enough since the monsters often got into scraps with each other once they're irritated enough. _Helps that I read up on that stone shape spell._ He thinks as he pushes one of the few rocks he managed to shape before the pack of Owlbears finally began to gather around the bottom of the hill.

The rock knocks at least two Owlbears over and that causes a massive fight among the pack below. "Oh... Wasn't that was messy..." He hears Tenten says and he turns to see what she's talking about.

"Yes, that is messy." He manages to say in a blank tone. "I wonder how much these feathers will sell for when we reach a merchant?" Lee wonders as he begins to pluck feathers from the dead body of the two headed Owlbear.

"Lee! Your station!" Tenten snaps and Lee glances sheepishly at them before stuffing the feathers in his hand into his pack as he returns to his position.

With a shake, he turns to watch what's going on among his lot of Owlbears. Seeing that he's got a few minutes peace, he takes out a spell book and begin reading it to brush up on a few spells that he thinks will come in handy by the time they try to flee from this hill top when the Owlbears are forced up the hill by their masters.

)**-o-**(

**Gaara**

"Are they who we're suppose to meet up with?" He wonders as he circles over this hill where three adventurers try and fend off these monsters with bird faces and bear like bodies. He clicks his tongue before descending downwards as soon as he's in his animal form instead of his hybrid form.

He clings to the rocks by the one wearing the robe. He couldn't help but feel as if there's something more to this wizard then meets the eye. _Or nose._ He adds thoughtfully as he sniffs the man's scent.

"Neji... I see men with torches behind this pack." The half-elf woman states with a hint of worry. "They're splitting up and it looks like the Owlbears are getting antsy." The ranger adds.

"The final push." The scaled one mutters and the robed wizard sighs. "This would be so much easier if we had a night's rest..." The wizard admits as he closes his book and puts it away.

"We are pretty exhausted, aren't we?" The ranger muses and then a moaning sound erupts from the scaly one. "And hungry." The Dragonborn says sheepishly while placing a hand over his mid-section.

"We could use some luck right now..." The lady ranger says. With ease, he takes to the air once he lets go of the rock.

Once he's about four feet in the air, he transforms into his human form, causing all three to become alarmed. "Are you Leaf nins?" He asks in a bland tone as he rests his hands on his hips, making sure to cock his head to the side in a questioning manner.

"You're one of those Sand nins, aren't you?" The wizard asks and he gives them a sharp nod. "I am Gaara of the Desert." He says and adds, "And it seems you need some help."

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	28. Arc 2: Chapter 9

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Gaara**

"May the blackness of this night consume the lot of you!" Howls a cult member as they whip the back of the monsters in the back, trying to get the lot to lumber up the hill, over the slain bodies of their fallen kin. "It's always the coward who prefers words over actions." He states in a calm voice, ignoring the various injuries he received during the battle just minutes ago.

One of the bird faced beasts roar and manage to rake its claws across the man's chest, cause the man to scream. Before the beasts could attack the fallen cultist, two cultists move to bash and whip the monsters away as the fallen cultist hurriedly backs away while still on the ground, his whip only dragging along since it's looped around the man's wrist.

"I hope Lee and Neji are having this much luck with their foes." Tenten muses as she comes to stand a few feet from his left. "Good work, by the way. I almost couldn't believe how quick your axe is." The ranger adds and he nods while never taking his eyes from the approaching dis-hearted seven bird beasts and the growing number of cultists, cultists who likely felt like they have a better chance now that their 'prey' look tired and ready to fall.

"You know, you never did answer Neji's question about what race you are." Tenten mutters as she takes a stand with her longsword at the ready. "I'm suppose to be human, though I believe somebody called me a Werebat." He answers in his usual blank tone.

"Let's hope that none of them have silver weapons, eh?" Tenten says as she luckily uses her sword to deflect an arrow aimed at her chest. "It is doubtful they would spend their coin on such things." He points out as he cocks his head to the side as he tries to listen in on a whispered conversation going on between the cultists as they continue to whip and rode the bird faced bears forward.

"Point." Tenten says and he could almost hear the grin when she said that. "We might want to speed things up here. It seems another group of cultists are herding a pack of Needlefang Drakes and a Guard Drakes our way." He informs her and the ranger just sighs.

"Super hearing?" Tenten asks and he inclines his head as he holds his axe up, ready to defend himself from the incoming enemy troops. The bird faced bears lumber over their fallen kin as they come stalking towards them, legs stiff and a few barking cries escape from their beaks.

Finally the bird faced bears screech like the birds their faces represent as they finally charge the rest of the distance. _Must be suicidal._ He decides but then, they were between a rock and a kunai. _Seem to be willing to give the rock a try._

As he moves to confront the closest monster, he couldn't help but feel a kind of thrill at being capable of _physically_ killing things without using his sand. There's just something addicting to being able to feel a weapon impact on something, of beginning able to make the split second gesture that causes his action to turn from offensive to defensive when somebody gets pass his guard. The feel of blood hitting his skin, of smelling his opponent's sweat, of hearing their beating heart speed up as the opponent grows more enraged or frightful.

_This is what it feels like to truly be alive._ He decides as his axe's steel head bites into one of the monster bird bear's back side after he avoids the charge.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

Lee's fist cuts the cultist off in mid swear as the man's lungs are forced to empty out and within seconds, the roots of the tree erupt from the ground to grab hold of the man. The scroll within his hands turn to ashes now that he's used the spell written on it, leaving him to brush his hands against each other, causing the ashes to fall down.

He glances around the battle field as he slowly walks towards the captive cultist. Every step jars his injuries and his desire to pass out is something he struggles with since now wasn't the time to do so. Once he has rubbed his hands clean, his right hand rummages around within the bag looking for an energy potion that should perk him up, for now at least.

He swirls the liquid contents for a few seconds before taking the stopper off and downs the blue liquid. It takes a few seconds for the liquid to take effect and then he fishes out a health potion to help speed up his ability to heal. Once that potion is down the hatch so to speak, he puts the stopper back on the vial and puts it back into the bag.

"Feeling better?" Lee asks and he nods as he gives the monk a passing glance before focusing in on their captive. A captive who's mouth has a ball of cloth stuffed in it.

"Well, that's one way to keep him from cursing." He muses and the captive tries to wiggle harder against the roots holding him while unintelligent sounds erupt from the man's throat. "Sadly, we need that out of his mouth so he can answer some questions." He says with a sigh after staring at the cultist for a few minutes as he feels the healing potion cause his skin to become slightly numb.

"Are we going to break a finger every time he swears or takes too long to answer a question?" Lee asks him and he hums in a thoughtful manner while the cultist seems to pale as well as stops moving for a few seconds before struggling more violently against the roots.

"You still got those nails we got from that dungeon we were in a few months ago? The one what was being renovated?" He asks Lee and the Dragonborn blinks before slowly nodding. "Good." He says with a very predatory grin erupting on his face.

-)**T**(-

"Hey Lee! Neji!" Tenten calls out as they get within eyesight of the ranger's keen eyes. "Hi Tenten! We have the coordinates of this cult's temple!" Lee shouts back while waving a hand while Lee's still trying to get blood off of his other hand.

_Maybe I should have talked him out of skinning those feathered bears..._ He thinks as he wonders if any of the blood is going to get onto those books he has within his magical satchel that holds an endless amount of things as long as it gets pass the open part of the satchel. _I wonder if we managed to get all of those throwing knives some of those guys were wearing._

As he comes out of his thoughts, he notices that Gaara seems to have vanished. "Where's Gaara?" He asks Tenten once he's only within ten feet of her instead of fifteen or twenty.

"He went off to scout around for any incoming reinforcements. It seems we might be dealing with drakes soon." The ranger of the group explains and he just closes his eyes while shaking his head slightly, clearly wishing that they had a chance to not just sleep but to take a bath or something since they all smell horrid.

"I know, I know. That's why I suggested that after giving us the progress report that Gaara goes off to find his team to bring them here. He is a flier after all, so it won't be long before he locates them and hopefully within a day's time, we won't be alone in attacking this stronghold." Tenten says and he nods, although he felt a bit irritated that she forgets that he can transform into a silver dragon, although not for very long or a full grown one.

"I think we should at least break out some dry goods and get a meal in us while we wait on Gaara." Lee says as Tenten's stomach growls and she looks sheepish at the noise her stomach made. "I think that's a good idea." He agrees and so, they sit down on the ground, a bit away from the fresh corpses of fallen monsters and men, waiting for Gaara to return.

-)**T**(-

_This isn't going to be pretty._ He thinks at the sight of the smaller drakes that range around the much larger drake while the cultists, unsurprisingly, brought up the rear. _Cowards._ He thinks in disgust, although it should really be that bit of a shock since such a tactic is considered valid, not that he every planned to use it if he could help it.

He did wonder what kind of fascination these guys had with two headed creatures since the Guard Drake, like that one bird faced bear, has two heads and both were glaring about them with their ruby colored gaze as they growl and hiss when ever a whip tip sails pass either head.

Shaking slightly, he calls forth the magic within him and within seconds, a tornado of fire erupts at the center of the horde of drakes with the two headed Guard Drake at the center of the blast.

With that action both Tenten and Lee charge forth from their hiding spots as the smaller drakes were dazed and confused about the sudden fire attack. This gives the two an advantage since they were too slow to react to the changes the spell has caused, leaving many of them with burns, some had been killed out right while others were suffering before death claimed them. More then a few of the tiny drakes turned on the cultists, eager to get some pay back on their tormentors.

_Hopefully, this buys us some time for Gaara and his team to arrive._ He think as he hangs back, firing off Magic Missile ever so often at some random foe using a wand of said spell.

For a brief moment, he did wonder about the progress of his younger cousin's team before returning to focus on the battle going on before him and supporting his team-mates as best as he can while saving his spells for an emergency situation.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

_Well... this could have gone better._ She admits as she strokes her mount, an elven trained war horse who she's dubbed Storm Eye, Storm for short. The seal brown mare simply sighs in contempt at the attention she's giving her as they watch as Kiba continues to raise his voice in volume at the boarder patrol they had been tracking since they came upon a decimated camp where the slain had not been buried.

Akamaru whines softly as tension between Kiba and members of the patrol begins to look as if a fight is about to break out. A few of the half-orcs already have their blades drawn while the few fully human members of the band glancing between their yelling leader and Kiba, clearly not knowing what to think of the debate going on between the holy warrior and their ranking officer. She knows that Shino isn't thrilled by them wasting their time arguing some point that they already took care of.

_This is going to take a while, isn't it?_ She thinks to Storm and the mare just flicker her ears back before shaking her head, the silky black mane flickering back and forth for a second or two. Storm then nudges her left hand before the mare's lips open up to engulf her fist.

She tsks the mare as she pulls her fist away from the mare's mouth, not willing to allow the mare to nibble her fist as if it were an apple. "I don't have any treats for you, Storm." She whispers to the mare as she begins to scratch the mare's bony cheek.

It takes her a few seconds to realize that is grown too silent and glancing away from Storm, she finds Kiba's war hammer head under the chin of the patrol's leader while said officer has a sword edge resting on the side of Kiba's neck. The two were glaring at the other with icy eyes. The rest of the patrol had their weapons out and Shino has his fire wand out, a few red sparks raining out of the point.

"Kiba, stand down! We didn't come here to pick a fight!" She snaps and that kind of alleviates the tension between the groups. "We only came to ask why they didn't give the dead funeral services, not to bury them." She adds and Kiba growls but moves the hammer's head away from the leader's neck while pulling away from the officer.

A few of the half-orcs snicker at how quickly Kiba had obeyed her and she sent a glare at those five before turning her attention to the leading officer. "Need I remind you lot that you've got loved ones out there who'd be ashamed of you for dishonoring the dead? If you don't follow burial practices then those bodies become easy targets for Necromancers to animate? Need you lot be reminded of Gravenash Fyre and his armies?" She remarks and the very name of that liche causes a few of the patrol to bleach or flinch.

The necromancer was so feared that people rarely if ever used the dead man's chosen name. The liche had claimed a large chunk of this band's kingdom and had terrorized the rest for shear enjoyment. The liche was killed just twenty-some years ago but still the terror the liche installed within the living populous remains.

"You have a point, priestess." The officer admits in a tone that brings to mind a little boy caught with his hand in a cookie jar. "Good. And my blessing to you and your men in your travels." She says after a few minutes.

With that said, she begins to lead Storm away. A few seconds later, she hears Kiba's heavy foot falls following her with his own battle trained mount. She sighs and hopes they're not late for the gather that Dart is organizing.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	29. Arc 2: Chapter 10

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Neji**

"Just how did these gold chain necklaces end up in those Hell Hounds?" Tenten wonders as the ranger holds up a small collection of necklaces. Lee tosses a ring in Tenten's direction while he looks on with a slightly bemused look.

"I would think they ingested them along with the rest of their... 'meal'." He answers as he pockets puts the polishing cloth back into his pack, his dagger gets re-sheathed in its place on his belt. "Though you would think this cultists would stripe them of their jewelry before feeding them to their hounds." He adds as he glances about the floor, particularly at the scattered, broken bones.

"Makes you wonder if there's anything of value in their..." Lee muses as the monk glances over at a dung heap. He fights the urge to vomit at the very idea that his team-mate proposes.

"Lee..." Tenten groans and he glances to find the ranger of the group looking a bit more pale then Tenten normally looks. Lee just seems to look slightly proud of himself, which causes him to conclude that's the Dragonborn's goal in suggesting that idea.

"Can we please focus here? We're now in the kennel of this cult, which means we're likely going to run into a lot of monsters before we make it to the central area of this temple compound. We also don't know from which direction Gaara and his party is going to be coming from either." He reminds the other two.

"You know, I thought we weren't interested in bringing this cult down, just crossing through this country?" Lee muses and Tenten nods in agreement with Lee.

"I have to agree with Lee on this one, Neji. We were only trying hook up with the others." Tenten points out and he sighs.

"Well, do you really think they'd let us pass through un-molested? I mean, they let loose a clan of Owlbears, then Drakes." He says and Lee asks, "How do you know those things were Owlbears?"

He points to the wall behind him that shows a bunch of posters of various monsters they have encountered with a few they haven't seen before. The names of the monsters were underlined in bold letters in common. "Oh! You know, maybe we should take those down so we can take them with us." Lee says and Tenten just sighs.

"You know, I kind of thought knowing monsters was a ranger's job... I mean, they are wilderness guides." Tenten admits with a frown and he gives Tenten a thoughtful look.

"Maybe that section was in that book part that you lost." He muses thoughtfully. Tenten flushes slightly while Lee is already taken down four of those monster posters.

"Well, while you two are doing that, I'm going to go check on that door to see if we have guards swarming outside of this part of the animal compound." He says before heading towards the wooden door that's barred with iron bars to reinforce it.

)**-o-**(

**Gaara**

"Do we have to share our plunder with that other party of Leaf nins?" Kankuro asks him as they finish walking pass the gate houses in the disguises he stole from this cult's storeroom on the fourth floor. Temari is their 'prisoner' since Kankuro and him were the only two that could pass themselves off as humans.

"Unlikely since all that gold I pocketed while with them was still there." He says before adding, "I did count it before I pocketed it."

"Well, that's a relief." Temari mutters softly as best as the bindings on the rogue's beak can allow. "Shh!" Kankuro hisses softly as a patrol comes down the hall as they head to the prison cells.

The guards pass by them without glancing at either Kankuro and him, though a cruel smirk hovers about their faces at the sight of Tamari. Finally, they get into the prison section of the temple complex and while Kankuro inquires about guard shifts, he moves through the hall between the various cells that hold various humanoid monsters like Cyclopes and Wererats.

The Wererats perk up after getting a whiff of his scent. A few of the prisoners begin to stir as they realize something's up with a selection of prisoners. A slight crack and Kankuro has killed the guard. As Kankuro looks around for the keys which gives Temari the signal that they're in the clear, so the Kenku breaks through the simple rope bindings, bindings that had been under an illusion to look like metal chains.

Within seconds, Temari is already beginning to pick the locks of the cells using that lock kit that his sister had added to over the months they've been trapped here, in this world. Kankuro finds the key ring and once the Rakshasa tosses it over to him before reanimating the dead guard. A few of the prisoners give his brother a wary look but were too eager to leave to be overly cautious.

Once all of the cells were open, the prisoners head for some hidden room and come out with weapons. Without a word from them, the newly released beastly humanoids have a scent of health potions coming from them as they pass by him. Murderous intent shine out of their eyes as they file up the stairs.

Within minutes, alarms sound while screams and war cries erupt. He watches as the last of the prisoners vanish and after a few minutes, Temari comes out of that concealed weapons room humming a happy tune while Kankuro finishes creating an army of skeleton minions out of the discarded dead bodies of nonhumans, like goblin types and Gnolls.

"How stupid are they, leaving at least one cell packed yea high with bones of the dead." Kankuro mutters before directing the horde up the stairs before they head up. Not much happens as the first of those undead minions likely arrive in that hall, which could mean anything at the moment.

"Just be sure to not have any undead hang around when we're traveling with that other party, they do have a half-elf ranger among them." He answers as he heads up the stairs before they did. He hears the fabric of Kankuro's clothing move slightly, he could only guess at what movement the tigerman had done since he didn't bother to turn around to see Kankuro's reaction to that order.

)**-o-**(

**Anko**

"Looks like they got things well in hand." She muses as she watches as those minions belonging to one of the Sand nin slowly drift down the hall. The few enemies they come across were usually overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Kankuro continues to animate the dead so the number only increases instead of decreases. Fallen skeletons only needed to have that spell recast for those to once more get up off the floor fully 'healed'. "Well, they are in the running for passing this part of the test." Iruka muses from his seat in the chair before one of the few active observation orbs.

There is only six teams left in the running and they are the Leaf rookies, Gai's team, the Sand nin, and finally, Orochimaru's team. "I'm surprise none of the Jonin are demanding to see how their teams are doing considering how long this exam has been running." The Chuunin siting before the orb that's tuned into Kakashi's team.

"Gai and Kurenai are antsy, though Gai's doing better at hiding it then Kurenai. Asuma and Kakashi seem to be holding up, though Baki seems to get nervous every month around the full moon." She answers before frowning slightly as she tries to recall if there was ever a Jonin for the Grass team.

"Must be because of the demon sealed within Gaara." Iruka muses and she nods, it had been surprising to learn that they had two Jinchuriki instead of one participating in this Chuunin exam. Although from what they have learned, Gaara's seal is incomplete compared to the seal the Fourth had used to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. _Which is a mixed blessing since it wouldn't hurt for those bastards to be reminding now and again of what a **demon** really is._

"Makes you wonder how long it would have been before the fox had gotten out if the Fourth had used an inferior seal..." Her latest 'secretary' muses as the woman makes her presences known with a bunch of files in her hands.

"Wouldn't have held for a month if you recall poison attempts." She answers as she turns to take the files from Miyako. "I'll be in my office." She says as she reads the titles of the files.

Miyako Inoue falls into step behind her. "Has any of this information reached our Jonin's ears?" She asks Miyako as she glances over at the purple haired Chuunin.

"No it hasn't. The security spells have ensured that but they are beginning to notice our tension." Mrs Inoue informs her.

"And just how many of our people want to bring them in now?" She asks, not that she didn't blame the Chuunin about this but she needs those Jonin acting naturally since they pretty much live in that quarter of the building with outside Jonin and they won't if they knew they're about to be attacked. She knew that if the shoe had been on the other foot, the Jonin wouldn't hast to keep this vital information from the Chuunin.

"Just two more to add to that camp." Miyako informs her and she sighs as she drops the files onto her desk once the door it closed. "Outside Jonin are also getting antsy, they don't see why they have to remain here when it's clear their Genin have failed." Miyako adds.

"So we organize something to keep all of the Jonin occupied. Busy hands and all that." She says as she settles into her comfortable rolling chair.

"That also might be good for our own people too. We do have more man power then we need at this moment." Miyako adds thoughtfully.

"I'll trust you know who would be best suited to be put in charge of this grand distraction." She informs Miyako and the twenty something Chuunin nods. "Now then, how goes correcting those bugs in the spells used for simulations?" She asks as she locates an on-going file that's only allowed to be stored within her office.

)**-o-**(

**Kakashi**

"This is getting tiring." Kurenai growls as she drops down onto the couch while he watches as Gai juggles knives blindfolded. "I don't see why we can't at least get a summary of on our teams." The new Jonin mutters.

He privately wants access to his book collection but he doesn't see that happening, so he manages to say without showing his irritation, "If they're not here then we must have done something right."

"That's not as reassuring as it was a few months ago." Kurenai states sourly. "I mean, we've been here for over two years! Surely giving us an update about our teams wouldn't interfere with the exam process." His fellow Leaf Jonin says with a defeated sigh.

"Even if we break into their records room, I doubt we'd learn anything." Asuma states as the man comes to drink from the water bottle that's resting the coffee table to his right. He turns to give Asuma a raised eyebrow.

"Really, now? How would you know that?" He asks in a light tone.

"Those three Mist Jonin managed it a few months ago. All of the papers they found were blank. They don't know what happened but woke in the medical wing." Asuma tells them and he couldn't help but be curious now.

"Interesting..." He muses as he begins to consider the facts as they stood. _Isn't there still a Leaf nin comatose in the medical wing?_ He muses, it's the only item of business that he finds odd since he's seen the Chuunin do a lot of miracles things since arriving in this complex.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	30. Arc 2: Chapter 11

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Neji**

"Where did all of these bones come from?" Tenten wonders as they hide in a room, waiting for the hall to clear out of the crispy bones. He just frowns slightly as he tries to not pay any attention to the vile scent of decay that is currently clinging to them.

"Well, Kankuro is a wizard of the Necromancer branch. He likely found a bone pile and animated them." He remarks as he tries to think of a spell that could get rid of any blood spatter or gore from their cloths. _I wonder if Kiba ever had this problem back during our first adventure..._

"So he's like that Gravenash guy?" Lee asks and he nods his head. "That doesn't seem to be a healthy profession..." The monk states with a pronounce frown.

_At least he's been weaned from speaking of Youth and what not._ He thinks while pausing to listen for any clanking from the hallway. He moves to the closed door and then, slowly, opens it up a sliver so he can look into the hallway.

"They're gone." He informs his team-mates. As he opens the door wider, Lee sighs heavily, it seems as if the monk has tried not to take any deep breaths. He really didn't blame the supposed Green Beast version two of Hidden Leaf since he himself had been having some trouble with the scent that's clinging to them.

"So... should we risk following those things?" Tenten asks and he couldn't help but stare at the ranger for a few seconds. "Right, dumb question." Tenten mutters once she glances away from their collective look.

"I'll take lead." Lee offers and without Tenten or himself countering the dragonborn.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"Ok... you really got to stop that." He says without bothering to open his eyes to glance at the one who's haunting the ship that Sakura owns. The wailing tries to continue again, causing him to sigh.

With barely a twitch, he causes the small flower not far from where he is napping on the deck of the ship, to grow larger as well as creating roots to entangle the spirit. The wailing turns into a string of curses as the spirit tries to wiggle out of the roots.

"Don't bother, that plant is called the Spirit Bloom in. It's also commonly known as Ghostbane, Reaper's Poison, or even, Peace Bringer." He states in a lazy fashion as he cracks open an eye lid to stare at the slightly blurry image of a Gnome, he can't tell the gender though.

The ghost disregards his words by switching languages while struggling harder. He lets the ghost continue its cursing for a time before the noise finally makes it impossible to ignore. Within seconds and with a bit more magic being fed into the plant, roots move to gag the ghost, causing silence to finally descend on the deck of the ship.

_Well, I guess I just saved us a fortune on having to hire a priest to preform an exorcism._ He muses as he watches as the spirit finally stops struggling against the roots. He studies the ghost for a few minutes before realizing he probably should finish this before something unexpected happens.

_Ok then, just which of my scrolls can help get rid of this thing?_ He wonders as he sits up so he can begin to rummage around in his satchel, taking out various scrolls but repacking them until he finds a scroll promising to banish the unruly undead from this plane of existence.

He unrolls the scroll once he's standing up. The restless spirit seems to glare at him, which causes the blurriness to fade a bit, giving him enough detail to figure out the Gnome's gender. He raises an eyebrow, some what surprised to learn that the spirit had been a woman in life.

With a slight shake of his head, he stares down at the scroll until he comes to the part that gives him the chant that will activate the magic that is dwelling within the scroll. The spirit tries to vanish as the first line exits out of his mouth but the plant's roots had a better hold on it, making it impossible for the spirit to flee.

The scroll lights up as the last syllable of the last word comes out of his mouth. The scroll disintegrates into a ray of yellow light, the beam seeks out the spirit and within seconds, the Gnome spirit is totally engulfed by the yellow light before a flash happens. When the light finally fades, it reveals the roots on the deck.

"All that's left now is for those two to return from that trip into the city and we can be on our way." He muses out loud. He glances down at the roots and begins to wonder just what to do with them. _Wonder if I can make a rope out of them..._ He wonders as he stares down at the long, thick roots.

)**-o-**(

**Dart**

_You would think that it wouldn't take four hours to get your ass in gear._ He muses as his wings flutter rapidly while he's sitting before a window. He felt like tearing something up as time marches on, his patience running thin.

"I wonder if anyone would notice if a few of those papers vanished?" He wonders as he stares at one of the stacks of them resting on the Hokage's desk. He grins toothily and tenses up to take to the air when the door opens to reveal the owner of the desk with a few vest wearing humans of varying genders.

"You know your assignments." The Third says and within seconds, the room clears, leaving the old man Hokage alone with him in said office. "Now then, what is it you wish to tell me?" The old man asks and he blinks at the old man.

"Well, do you know what the second part of the exam is?" He asks the Third and the old man frowns while approaching the desk. The Hokage doesn't say anything as the elderly man sits down on the chair.

"I would assume it's something concerning the Forest of Death." The Hokage says and he snorts softly. The human narrows his eyes at him after a few seconds but he just enters into a staring contest with the elderly man who Naruto sees as a grandfather.

"What has Anko done now?" The Third Hokage asks as the boss of the village glances away, ending their contest. He glances out at the window for a second before taking to the air, the beating of his wings ruffle the papers on the desk.

"Well, you remember that game Naruto and them played? Well, you didn't put it in a very good hiding place considering Anko's using it as the second exam." He says in a flat tone.

He watches as the elderly man doesn't ask him to leave as the Hokage brings out an orb. He lands on a chair before the desk and watches as the curtains move from their resting places to block out the sunlight. With his keen eyes, he watches as the game board appears within the orb's depths.

He snorts softly at the defeated look that graces the elderly man's face. It vanishes as swiftly as it appears and it wasn't long before the Hokage summons a ninja. It didn't take long before the leader of the village vanishes along with the ninja, leaving him very much alone in said village leader's office.

"Well, well, well, isn't this an interesting turn of events?" He muses as various ideas for pranks flicker through his mind. But in the end, he just shakes his wings before taking to the air to head to the game board to see just how Naruto and his team are fairing in his many hour absence.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

"Well, that's that." Lee says as they stand in the middle of an almost ring of dead cultists. They were all tired and he's not the only one to reach for their water-skins. It was a trying battle after all.

_Though to be fair, there's way more skeletons then cultists..._ He thinks as he glances around the large room with his eyes settling on the two-headed statue of some chaotic god they worshiped. _Though I'm kind of curious as to if Kankuro will try and keep one or two of those corpses around as a minion._ He wonders as he glances to the side to the corpses that were still animated.

_Though... I wonder if this will grind on Tenten's nerves... After all, she is a half-elf and most elves don't like undead._ He thinks as he glances over at the ranger as Tenten eyes the corpses that were under Kankuro's sway.

"So... where do you think the treasure room is?" Temari muses and he shrugs while Gaara shifts into his hybrid form and begins to slowly glance around the room. A slight headache makes itself known while Gaara does this.

"Over here, there's a hidden door." Gaara says after a few minutes, minutes of which they've started to loot the bodies of the dead cultists. Though Kankuro does have the still animated dead help this along.

"I got it." Temari says with a sigh as the bird person heads to the bit of wall Gaara waved his hand towards. He smiles in a sad kind of way as he recalls when that was his job.

Temari touches a stone in the bottom of the wall, it clicks and the wall pulls itself out and then to the right side. A metal door is revealed and the rogue takes out a set of very familiar tools to begin work on the lock.

Soon the lock clicks and he watches as Temari opens the door. The door's hinges are so well oiled that they didn't make any real noise, not even a squeak. With the door fully opened, Temari curses a few seconds before a deafening roar bursts forth from the room.

"Oh, shi..." Kankuro swears.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	31. Arc 2: Chapter 12

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Gaara**

"I'm beginning to get tired of things having two heads." He states as the two headed wyvern strains against its bounds to try and attack them as they keep out of its reach. It's heads screeching and snarling at them, its frustration clear for all of them to see.

"You're just getting tired now? How about when we were being attacked by those drakes?" Tenten asks him and he sends the ranger a dirty look but doesn't comment as he turns to use his make shift sling.

True, most of his attempts at hitting the scaly two-headed beast didn't seem to do much other then aggravate it. "Is there even anything worth while in that room?" Kankuro wonders as the necromancer directs the animated corpses and skeletons around.

"We'll never know unless we check it out." Temari points out. He privately agrees with that Temari's sentiment but had to admit that this was getting fairly old, it didn't help that he's battling a headache on top of coming out of a very exhausting battle.

"You know, I think we're going about this the wrong way." Neji says in a thoughtful tone. He's not the only one to glance at the wizard with a questioning look on their face.

"We have freshly killed bodies right?" Neji says after sighing, it seems the half-dragon had hoped he didn't have to explain it. "We can add poison to the still fleshly dead and then send them in there for that thing to take chunks out of. If we're lucky, it'll die from being poisoned." The wizard states calmly.

He glances over to Temari with a slightly raised eyebrow, silently asking if she had any poisons they can us. "Sounds good to me. Although, where do we get the poison from?" Lee wonders while Temari begins to rummage through her satchel.

"Well, rogues have been known to double as assassins..." Neji states calmly, likely reminding them of that little fact. Almost everyone turns to look at Temari as the Kenku very carefully pulls out various vials.

"But don't Wyvern have a poison attack?" Tenten wonders and Neji nods as the half-dragon answers, "Their tail is like a scorpions tail, but I think they're more resistant to poison then immune. Give them enough and it should overwhelm their system, even if it takes a few hours for it to work."

"Unless they did something when they performed that two-head granting ritual in hopes of upping its resistance..." Lee muses darkly while the ranger just sighs.

It's clear to him that the half-elf ranger is fairly exhausted, though he would imagine that Neji would be the worst out of them for that since flinging those spells around while also doing physical combat should be wearing, no matter if Neji is half-dragon. _Or maybe not, after all, Lee doesn't look too winded and the monk is dragon like as well..._

"I rather play the waiting game and getting some rest while we're at it then being exhausted and charging it." Tenten murmurs. "I second that!" Temari says cheekily while pausing in taking out more vials of poison.

_Just how many has she collected as well as made?_ He wonders at the sight of at least fifty glass bottles resting on a cloth mat that Temari had laid out before the first vial appeared. _Or maybe the question is, do I really want to know why she's collecting them?_

He couldn't help but frown while Neji moves to kneel next to Temari. "You got a few that seem to be magical in nature." Neji muses after the wizard studies the lot.

"Well, some of them I did collect off of dead monsters." Temari remarks as his sister picks up one vial whom contains seem to glow slightly. Temari taps the cork with a tip of a talon before handing it over to Neji.

"You know anything about poisons?" Temari asks Neji as the half-dragon takes the vial. "Never really got around to messing with them during the first game. I had chosen to play a Drow rogue during that adventure." The half-dragon informs them, pretty much causing him to recall how easily that blond Leaf nin had created their own characters for this part of the exam.

"Really? Was that blond kid part of that? The one with the whiskers?" Kankuro asks and that causes Neji to snap his head to look at Kankuro.

"You had Naruto do you're characters?" Neji says and then after a pause, Neji just shakes his head slightly. "Of course you did, it would explain you're playing as a Rakshasa..." Neji says.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Temari asks, pretty much saying what he's thinking. Neji sighs and answers, "It's just that Naruto already had experience playing as a Rakshasa, though, not as a sorcerer, as a fighter. Although that didn't stop him from casting spells... Or gaining Dart as a minion..."

"Really... So, did he retain his shape-shifting abilities?" Kankuro asks, clearly interested while he's more interested in who among that crowd of Leaf Genin had played what during the last adventure since it might give him an idea of what they might have chosen this time around.

"Not that I know of, but then, that's a racial thing. It's like how Gaara won't still be a Werebat when this is over since Kiba didn't remain a Dire Werewolf, although he did keep his magical abilities... Actually, we all kept most of the 'learned' abilities while not retaining anything that was racial in nature." Neji admits, pretty much giving him an idea of what they will likely retain as well if this is like the last time this game has been played.

_But didn't my condition come from a pendant?_ He muses as he pads the area of his chest where he can feel the pendant, even through his cloths and leather armor. _If so, then wouldn't it stand that as long as I'm wearing it that I'll remain a Werebat?_ He wonders but in the end, the headache causes him to stop musing about it, and so with a thought to speak with Naruto at length about it, he tries to think of something else that wouldn't require much deep thinking.

"So, are we going to lace these corpses or not?" Kankuro asks, startling them out of their thoughts. Temari huffs softly while Neji looks amused.

"We might as well get started, the sooner we're done the sooner we can take turns on sentry duty." Tenten states and with a nod, Neji hands the vial of poison back to Temari while Kankuro brings over the bodies with the most flesh on them.

Lee looks a bit green but it's Tenten who shivers and backs away when they draw too close. Neji just wrinkle his nose but begins to take a few vials off of the cloth before moving to one of the bodies to dump the poisons on. He moves forward to help bring this idea into reality.

"We'll head over there and clean that area up so we can sleep there." Lee says and he just nods while being careful to walk around the cloth where the vial of poison were resting.

After all, he wouldn't want to find out if he could survive being covered by all of that poison that's on the cloth. _And I'm so not looking to see if Kankuro could revive me if I died._ He thinks to himself, trying not to shiver at the thought.

He carefully uncorks a vial and pours if over the head of a corpse. The scent causes him to stop breathing through his nose and through his mouth, heck, he even resists the urge to cover his nose with a hand. _Maybe I should have thought about wearing something over my lower face before I started this..._ He muses, glad that the two-headed wyvern has stopped making loud noises, keeping to low volume growls and snarls.

As he recorks the now empty bottle, he wonders if it weren't too late to take a kerchief from his satchel and wrap it around his nose and mouth...

"This isn't exactly glorious way to kill that monster, is it?" Kankuro muses off to his far left. He pauses in taking out another vial to glance at his brother with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Oh? Here I would have thought this would be right up your alley, after all, you do mix poisons with your puppets." He points out after recalling what seems to be fragmented memories. _But then what do you expect? I had a demon yammering on and on in my mind. It's not like I can really keep my attention on what's going on around me with that beast whining, ranting, and making demands of blood._ He thinks to himself while Kankuro's mouth snaps shut and his brother focuses on pouring poison on the undead minions that were temporarily under his control.

)**-o-**(

**Kakashi**

_How did they drag me into this?_ He wonders to himself as he follows his fellow rookie teaching Jonin plus Gai. _I'm pretty sure that Gai's rosy red skin is something we should have covered..._ He muses privately to himself as he stares at said Jonin's back.

He then switches his gaze to look at Asuma who's own skin is silvery and then at his own purplish skin since Kurenai is walking behind him. _Funny how I never noticed it until now. What does it mean?_ He wonders while frowning behind his mask.

"What's wrong now, Hataka?" Kurenai asks in a wary kind of way. He hums softly before glancing to his left to find Kurenai Yuhi matching his pace.

"Have you notice how different our appearances are now that we're not in the Jonin portion of this place?" He asks the Genjutsu specialist. He waves at Kurenai's own brown colored skin before holding up his own hand with purple skin.

"Now that you mention it, yes." Kurenai says with a slight frown. "Is it just me or is Gai's head beginning to flare up?" Kurenai says after a few minutes and blinking, he turns to look at Gai to find that yes, Gai's hair seems to be a flaming red color.

Within seconds Gai's hair finally transforms into a flame. He couldn't help but feel faint at the sight and wondering if Gai's inner Youthful Fires are finally bursting out of the man. _This is something I so didn't need to see._

"I do believe Gai's hair just caught on fire." Kurenai mutters with a hint of disbelief and a touch of fear. Unconsciously he tries to run a hand through his own hair only to find it stiffer then he remembers.

Glancing over to Asuma, he couldn't help but stop to stare at the fact that the smoking Jonin's head now features dark gray hair. It didn't take long before Kurenai is a few feet before him, giving him a clearer view of the changes to Kurenai. _Her hair... It's almost rivaling Naruto's blond locks._

Then a dreadful thought crosses his mind. _If they look like that, then what do I look like?_ He wonders and within seconds, his mind is a whirl with a lot of different idea, many based off of what he see on his fellow Leaf Jonin.

"Kakashi? What's wrong?" Asuma calls out in a harsh whisper but as he comes out of his thoughts, he finds that the other three were staring at him with surprise before Gai and Asuma begin to note the changes in Kurenai and the one that isn't them.

Then before anyone could react, a group of four Chuunin seemingly appearing right out of the darkness of the corridor. "While I'm sure this would prove entertaining if we left you to your devices, we are required to escort you to Anko." The likely leader of the group says.

With a glance at his fellow Jonin, they just raise their hands up. _Why is it that we're colorfully marked when they aren't?_ He wonders as a Chuunin moves to stand a few feet from them before leading them off.

-)**T**(-

_Who went and appointed Anko Hokage?_ He wonders at the familiar sight of paperwork with a vaguely familiar looking woman sitting behind the desk. _I wonder what's with the paperwork though..._

"I do believe I know why you left the designated Jonin instructor's area, so we can cut to the heart of the matter without any bush beating." Anko says while twirling a stick with metal bits too it. "Congratulations, all of your teams plus the Sand team are still participating in the exam." Anko adds in a sweet, cheerful tone.

Anko puts her hands together and then rests her chin on it with the strange stick still in her hands. "So they passed?" He found himself saying after they exchange wary looks.

"Not yet, they have yet to complete the task set before them. I should also let you know that less then three days have passed in Hidden Leaf even though little over two years have pass for us. So, relax, enjoy the up coming festivities and pray to a Kami that your students hurry up and complete their appointed task." Anko says with a slight smile on her face, one that pretty much promised something unpleasant if they press the matter.

"So... A month here equals an hour at home?" He couldn't help but remark and Anko just nods before she waves in a dismissive manner.

"Take them back to the main area. Also, inform Sachio that he's got some helpers for the up coming festival." Anko says and with that, Anko places the flat metal tip into an ink pot and pulls on the other end before writing something down on a sheet of paper.

Anko hands the note to one of the Chuunins and then they're escorted out. _Well, we didn't find ourselves in that 'brig', whatever that is..._ He muses as they walk through the various halls until their appearances returned to normal as does the Chuunin.

)**-o-**(

**Anko**

"Well, they got a good look at your desk." Iruka muses once the door has been closed for a few minutes. She sighs while using her non-writing hand to rub her temples.

"Which will only cause them to become more interested in what's going on. After all, with all of this paper work on this desk, it likely reminded them of the Third's office." She muses before shaking her head as she stares down at a purchase orders for food, cloths, special orders of weapons; enchanted or not, and luxury items like watches, jewelry, pretty much anything that people have requested that they're willing to pay for using their allowance.

"How's the treasury?" Iruka asks her and it takes her a few seconds to find said report among her drawers. Pulling it out, she gives it a look before handing it over to the man while Miyako picks up the Out stack of files that will likely have the majority heading for the record room.

"How long until the spells on the treasury activate to refill it?" Miyako asks before her secretary picks up the stack of reports, bills, and latest orders for the Chuunin.

"It activates every three months, though if I have ten sorcerers feeding the spells magical energy for three days straight, we can cause the spells to activate on the fourth day." She says, after all, she is the one who designed this game world and the demi-plane they're currently residing in.

"Ah." Miyako says before the Chuunin picks up the stack and heads out of the office viva the side door. She just sighs as she reaches for her tea cup, she casting a minor heating spell before downing it.

"For this up coming festival is reducing our treasury a bit faster then expected." Iruka muses and she nods as Iruka hands the report back to her so she can return it to its drawer.

"Well, here's some good news, our stores for standard ninja equipment like kunai and wire will be bursting as will our stores of spell ingredients and health potions." Iruka reports as the Chuunin pulls out the report from the In stack and hands to her. "I know a few of ours are beginning to try their hand in enchanting said tools using reference books purchased to aid in the simulation spell that's coming to completion." The academe teacher adds as she browses through the reports, ignoring the arrival of a fresh tea pot.

"I see a few are trying their hand at summoning local dimensional denizens. It's good to see that the wards keeping evil beings like Fiends and Deamon out are holding." She remarks since that's all they need to follow them home. _We have enough trouble with our native summons and demons as things stand._

"Any demands for more spell books?" She asks as she flips to the next page and finds the answer to said question on this page. "It's not as if we'll ever be able to purchase every magical manual in this world. For one thing, the real powerful stuff isn't put up for sale." She remarks with a frown at the number of requests for volumes that were likely very hard to get along with being rare to begin with.

"Our store of enchanted artifacts are coming along nicely as well as our attempts at applying permanent area effects. Hopefully we'll be able to apply those secrecy wards around the village before the invasion is to happen. Might reduce the number of enemies invading us." Iruka adds as she comes to the third page of the report which continues onto the fourth page.

"Seems as though everything is in order." She muses as she finishes reading the last page of the report. It didn't take more then a few seconds for the report to find itself in the right pile.

With that, she pours herself some more tea while Iruka heads off after looking at the clock in her office. She takes a few minutes to enjoy her tea before picking some report or whatever from the In pile to review it. _If this is what it's like to be Hokage then I'm not missing out on anything am I?_

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	32. Arc 2: Chapter 13

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

Ruffling his feathers, he glances about the horizon and notes that the sun is just starting its climb into the sky. Bending his head down, he scratches his head with a talon foot before fluttering his wings, getting rid of the morning dew. With a soft hoot, he launches himself off of his current perch and circles around the ship a few times before landing on the deck.

One Shapechange later and he's heading into the main cabin to alert Sasuke that it's morning. He tries to suppress his urge to yawn but doesn't have much luck. He glances around the room before walking up to the slumbering form resting between two wooden chairs.

Soft snorts emanate from the half-fiend. He picks up the book Sasuke likely fell asleep reading and other then give it a glance, he places the book on the table next to the chair. For a few seconds, he thought of pulling some kind of prank on the resting rogue but decided he rather not have to watch his back any more then he has to already.

"Sasuke..." He says softly and gives the rogue a slight nudge. This rouses Sasuke within seconds and he notes that Sasuke's hand only moved to touch the dagger on the belt but nothing more.

"Morning?" Sasuke asks while beginning to stretch gently, beginning with the shoulders. He just nods with a mighty yawn as he heads for the other door, the one that will take him below deck.

"See ya around noon." He says before opening the door. "Later." He hears Sasuke call out while a chair scraps itself on the wooden surface.

_One more stop before I finally hit the hay._ He muses to himself while trying to keep his eyes open, which is getting harder as he continues to walk through the hall. Once he comes to a certain room with a crest consisting of a broad sword and a wreath of flowers hanging on the hilt of the sword on a field of orange, he knocks until he hears Sakura shouting at him to stop.

With his final task completed, he heads for his room for some well desired rest. After all, today is the day they finally sail this ship. _I wonder if we should have hired actual sailors to man it though? I mean, what do any of us know of sailing a ship? I'm just glad that repairing it was the subject of so many books..._

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

_And so a new day arrives..._ He muses from his position by one of the large windows that were at least three stories in the air. Though it had been tricking to climb up here, the view of the rising sun help refresh his wary mind.

_Maybe it's time I take a familiar?_ He wonders to himself as he watches as a few birds take to the dawning sky, likely in search of water or to find a warmer perch. "It would be nice to have something like a pet even if it wouldn't extend outside of this world..." He muses softly as he glances at a certain collection of birds that have been hanging about the compound.

"A raven would be rather useful to have." He adds thoughtfully as he recalls the magical ability that ravens usual receive during the ritual. _It would also save on using those communication spells, particularly when you're in a fight._ He muses as he watches a few ravens ride the air currents, seemingly playing some kind of game of tag.

"Hey Neji! The beast is dead! You coming down or what?" Tenten shouts at him, causing him to snap out of his current train of thought to glance down at his team-mate.

With a sigh, he moves to launch off of the ledge, but not before he casts a feather weight spell on himself first so he doesn't land too badly. He hears Tenten just growl while those from Sand gasp softly for a few seconds until they notice how slowly he's falling. He couldn't help but smirk softly at their reactions, though he makes sure to wipe that smirk off his face before his feet touch the ground.

"Show off." Tenten says before turning on her heels and heading into the room. It doesn't surprise him too much to see that Lee's a bit busy trying to move the dead two-headed wyvern out of the way by trying to get the body to curl up or something. _I wonder what value that wyvern's bones, blood, organs, and flesh would fetch... After all, it took a lot of magic to cause the beast to grow an extra head._

"Seems that whoever was in charge decided to do some sorting of the treasure." Temari muses at the sight of two other rooms with a large cage at the far back of the room. "It seems they did have a way to keep the wyvern out of their way when they were going about their business..." The Sand nin adds.

"So, which team takes which room?" Lee wonders and they glance among themselves before resorting to a simple game in which Tenten and Lee won, thus giving their group first pick. After a few seconds of heated debate, they picked the left room which means that the Sand team can raid the right room.

It took them a couple of hours to empty the two rooms and, after another game, they divided the treasure in the main room. They did stop for small breaks, but they did manage to finish in the late afternoon. _Well, at least I did get some parts of the wyvern..._ He muses after he blasts a huge hole in the side of the temple's room, giving them a clear way out of the building.

"Hey, you! Hand over the goods!" Growls a moldy group of ex-prisoners. _Must have been attracted by the sound of the blast..._ He muses as he mentally goes through his list of spells that he had memorized while lounging before that window.

"This should be easy, they're still weak from their captivity." Temari says and he's incline to agree with the bird girl on this as they all get their respective weapons ready.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

With somebody knocking on his door, he just groans softly as he rolls onto his other side. "Naruto! Are you going to wake or not? I mean, we are going to have lunch before casting off!" Sakura's slightly muffled voice informs him.

It's about then that he realizes that his stomach is empty since he hadn't eaten anything beyond that mouse this morning... With a sigh, he rolls onto his back before sitting up. "I'm up, I'm up!" He calls out as begins to stretch his upper body.

"Good, see you in a few then." Sakura tells him and he just glances at the door while shaking his head. Within seconds, he's standing in his room and begins to look around for his pack so he can get dress.

_Let's see, what do I want to wear today?_ He muses as he begins to rummage through his satchel that's been enchanted to hold tons of things while not causing it to get weighed down. _Nope, done green already._ He muses as he tosses a collection of green cloths ranging from simple shirts and pants to vests and shoes.

_Nope, not yellow or orange._ He adds mentally as he tosses those colors onto the floor until he came upon red. He studies the fancy elven shirt with gold stitches. "Hmm..." He hums as he considers the shirt, he's sure it was expensive since the cloth feels silken too.

"Maybe." He decides and tosses the long sleeve royal red shirt on the chair just a foot or two from his position. Once that's done, he begins to rummage around in his satchel once more.

Leather began to show up and he tosses that next to him, he did have to marvel at the various colors he's managed to collect in leatherware. _Do I really want to know how they manage to make leather that spotless white?_ He muses as he holds up a white leather jacket with silver studs and sapphires. _How come I never tried to sell this? I'm pretty sure those sapphires alone cost a pretty penny..._

With a shake of his head, he sets the jacket down with the rest of the leather so that he can continue to find something suitable to go with that elven shirt since if he doesn't get dress now, he's sure Sakura or Sasuke will arrive to see what's keeping him. A few sets of pants later, he finally finds soft brown pair of pants.

It doesn't take long before he's wearing the red elven shirt and simple pair of clean brown pants. He takes a few seconds to pick a belt and then, after a few seconds, a leather vest that kind of matches the pants. Seconds later, he's wearing enchanted magical bracers, a single ring, golden necklace with a crystal pendant clutched in a taloned 'hand', a belt pouch containing seeds, and of course a dagger.

He wanders over to the hanging mirror and runs his fingers through his mane of bright blond hair. He opens the door just in time to find Sakura standing before the door. "Oh..." Sakura says as his team-mate notices the cloths he's wearing.

"I thought, since this is a special occasion, that a nice set of cloths were in order." He says as Sakura studies him from head to toe. "I mean, how often will I be attending a maiden voyage, eh?" He adds lightly.

"True... Anyway, lunch is served." Sakura says as his team-mate finally gets a hold of herself.

"Lead the way, captain!" He says with a grin and Sakura chuckles softly before doing just that. He closes the door behind him, he does caste a locking cantrip on the door too. After all, he didn't want somebody sneaking into his room while it's got a mess within it.

_You wouldn't know it from looking at it that this ship could hold so many rooms..._ He muses as they walk up the stairs, heading for the cabin that also acts as the navigation and helm room. He sniffs the air and his stomach growls at the scent of cooked food.

"Where did that weasel of yours run off too?" Sakura asks and he couldn't help but sigh. _True, we've only been together for two months but you would think they would at least stop calling her a weasel..._

"Den's not a weasel, she's an otter. And she should be here already." He says as they step out onto the deck.

"Naruto! You're stupid, overgrown weasel brought me another dead, half-eaten fish!" Sasuke bellows and he jogs over to the side of the ship to find Den curled up next to the fire.

"Den! Where's the package?" He calls out to the bright otter. Den uncurls and within a few bounds, his animal companion enters into the water. By the time he arrives by the makeshift camp, Den drags out a medium size crate viva a rope.

He takes hold of the rope and soon, the crate arrives on the bank. Using his dagger, he slices away the vines that keep the crate shut. Moving the lid, Den moves to see what's in the crate and kind of blocks his view. Den then snorts and backs away, clearly disinterested now that she's seen what's within the crate.

He scratches the back of Den's head before taking out the few items that he sent Den to retrieve from one of the local druids while he had been in the city, trying to buy those rare materials needed to repair the ship. _I'm so glad I sent her out on a mission before entering the city. I wouldn't want to see them tormenting her just to get to me._

"What's with the rings?" Sakura asks as the fight comes to stand behind him to see what's within the crate. He picks up one of the small rings, ones that he had specially ordered through said local.

"Just a few items that I want to fit on Den before we leave. The one with the ruby is a fire protection enchantment, the one with the feather boosts agility, the wooden one is suppose to help against sleep spells, and the last one with the golden wreath is suppose to help speed up healing." He says.

"Animals can use magical items?" Sasuke asks and he glances over to the half-fiend. He sighs, deciding not to remind them of that pack of worgs that was led by that winter wolf with that enchanted collar.

"They can wear them and gain the benefits of them." He states simply before turning to Den. He whistles to get Den's attention and with a slight bark, the female otter comes to sit at his side.

It doesn't take long to open the slightly opened rings onto Den's four limbs. He makes sure to press the rings so the end touch, making it almost impossible for Den to jingling them off of her legs. Den sniffs the rings and after a few bites, the otter then decides they weren't hurting or hampering her, so Den ignores them in favor of heading to where Sasuke flung the dead fish to eat some more of it.

He shrugs before picking up the various potions that he also ordered. "I thought it a good idea to order a few more health potions and boosters." He says as he picks up one of the glass bottles, holding it up to study the liquid within.

"I'm kind of surprised you thought that far ahead..." Sasuke muses and he sends a minor glare towards the rogue before returning his attention to the potion in his hand. He gently puts it back into the crate and then puts the lid on it.

Sakura heads to sit by the fire as he picks up the heavy crate and lifts it over to the fire. It didn't take long before Sasuke hands him a plate that's filled with mashed roots, roasted rabbit meat, and a small bun. Resting the plate on his lap, he picks up the bun and begins to rip open to insert the meat, making a sandwich.

They didn't talk as they consumed the lunch that two of the three made. There wasn't much to talk about, really. _Only thing left to do is to pray that this works..._ He decides as he asks for another bun to help finish off his mashed roots.

Soon, all of the food has been eaten or giving to Den to polish off. Sakura picks up the crate with potions in it while he begins to collect the plates. Sasuke puts out the fire before following after the weretiger.

Once he's put the dishes and pots away in a box. He puts the lid on it and surveys the area for a few seconds before clicking his tongue, which causes Den to head for the ladder while he carries the box containing the dirty dishes and pots. At the bottom of the rope ladder, he sets down the box before putting the box into the net.

Picking up Den, he climbs up the ladder and once up on deck, he pulls the ladder up and then the net containing the box and crate. He hears Sasuke curse at Den as he maneuvers the net onto the deck without jarring the two items within the net.

"Naruto! Control your pet!" Sasuke bellows and he snorts softly before whistling sharply, which causes Den to come charging towards him as he finishes with the net.

"She's not a pet!" He shouts but knew that neither of his team-mates care about that. "You're just full of energy." He says to Den and the otter just scratches behind her ear.

With a slight grin, he moves to pick up the heavier of the two from the net and heads for the cabin door with Den hot on his heels. He's careful in getting the door to open so he can enter. Once within the cabin, he moves to put the crate by one of the trunks they decided to use to store medical supplies.

Den climbs onto a chair to look out of the main window while Sakura's busy trying to figure out how to cause the skiff to hover in the air by referring to a few unrolled scrolls and opened books. "Stay." He says to Den and the otter glances his way before continuing to look out of the window.

By the time Sasuke finishes with the preparations, he hauls not just the box of dirty dishes and pots, but the net and rope ladder. "Ok, I think I know how to do this." Sakura says as Sasuke holds the door open for him to enter.

"Watch." Sakura says as she inserts a green crystal in the wooden beam that holds the stirring wheel. He feels the skiff come alive and the fans that Sasuke opened on the mast shimmer, giving the impression of thin purple leaves growing from the mast.

He moves to one of the stations. He did pause for a second before moving the chair Den is on over to the free station, hoping that by having Den there, it counts as four crew members.

"Let's see if we can't be our friends to this Courtship of Fire and Ice place that Dart wants us to hook up with our fellow Leaf nin." Sakura muses and he just glances over to the weretiger as she slowly rotates the wheel to point the ship out onto the open river.

"You know, I can't help but feel as though there's something I should say..." Sakura muses softly. "Ah well, let's see what this baby can do!" Sakura says with a wide, toothy grin that he can see kind of reflected in the window before him.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	33. Arc 2: Chapter 14

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Hinata**

"How did we get ropped into this Drake hunt?" Kiba wonders as they ride to the far right of the party of the region locals. "We're already on a quest, a quest to hook up with our fellow nin."

"Sathar Thoreza." And with that, Shino sums it all up. She's not the only one to glances towards the so call local lord of these parts as it seems that with the death of Lord Remint, leaving his only daughter to inherit the lands and titles. A daughter who was soon wooed by the familiar con-man they had encountered early in the first year of being within this world.

"We can't kill him... why?" Kiba wonders softly with ears slightly flatten against the skull. "It wouldn't be hard, I'm sure a good scare would be enough..." Kiba adds with a glint sparkling from his eyes.

She couldn't help but sigh, after all, Sathar has gained weight since they lasted met with him. _I wonder how long until Sathar moves onto bigger and 'better' things? Or kills his wife for total control of the estate..._ She thinks, after all, such _men_ ruin everything they touch sooner or later.

"That would be considered murder. So until he cheats us, we're going to have to not harm him." She finally says, feeling slightly dirty at deciding that. "Besides, it looks like we're not the only ones keeping an eye on the brute." She adds while noticing the previous captain of Lord Remint frowning while Sathar opens yet another bottle of wine while Sather's good old buddies sing dirty lyrics that were only fit to be sung within traverns and whore houses.

"I think he'll try getting her with child before offing her." Kiba says with distain while Shino keeps his own council. Akamaru whines softly from some place to their left, likely walking next to Shino's pony.

"Anyone else wondering if we're surrounded or not? I mean, they're very loud and if there are intelligent monsters about, they would be stalking us while trusting that singing to mask their approached..." Kiba muses after the singers switch to a different tune while increasing the volume, much to her displeasure.

_You would think they would at least consider what my profession is when they pick the song..._ She thinks at the mention of drunken demons and friendly fiends. She couldn't but feel more dirty by not putting a stop to the singing as they ride through the empty field.

Scouts would arrive and yet Sathar never bothered to stop the party to listen to the scouts. The scouts would follow and once the group of scouts grew to number at least six, the ex-captain finally moves to ride next to the scouts. One of the scouts glances over to 'Lord' Sathar before beginning to address ex-captain, she never did get the man's name.

She couldn't help but glance at the supposed actual captain of the guard, a man who just so happens to be one of 'Lord' Sathar's drinking buddies and one of the singers. _Makes you wonder if this hunt isn't just an excuse to get out of the castle..._ She muses sourly, wondering if she shouldn't drift towards the ex-captain to inquire about it.

Once all of the seven scouts have reported in, she watches as the ex-captain glances in disgust at the group of drunks who were leading the hunting party of forty odd people with at least thirteen members of the party consist of Sathar and his drinking buddy. Most of the guards were out scouting or patrolling around the moving party, leaving most of the gorup consist of rich merchants and young local noblity and a small group of servants serving food and drinks to the singing drunks of the group.

"I believe that pretty much says it all, don't it?" Kiba muses, it seems that she's not the only one witnessing said interaction between the ex-captain of the guard and the seven scouts.

"I believe one of us should visit with the man to see how fairs the hunt." Shino suggests and she couldn't help but agree with Shino. "I believe I would be the least likely to be noticed in approaching the man." The wizard adds and she couldn't find it within her to argue since she wouldn't put it pass those drunks to try and hit on her or worst.

"Go for it, Shino. I rather not get close to those stinking drunks unless I have to." Kiba says with a wrinkling nose and lips pulled back to show some pointed teeth.

She just nods and so, Shino slows to get pass her, leaving Akamaru to walk next to her. She doesn't watch Shino ride towards the ex-captain as she decides to drink some water from her water skin. Very few people paid much mind to the Gnome who's slowly approaching the 'disgraced' man. _Not sure what kind of character the ex-captain is..._

)**-o-**(

**Shikamaru**

_This is truly troublesome._ He thinks as he stares at the group of either really young Lizardfolk or dwarf size Lizardfolk as they bow down before Ino. The sorceress seems a bit disturbed at her new followers as the brown colored mini-Lizardfolk chant in their native language.

"Any idea what they're saying?" Choji asks him and he replies, "Just singing of their woes and the wrongs they've incurred through their travels in looking for a sacred relic that is needed to cure their curse."

"Any idea of what they expect Ino to do?" Choji asks while pawing the ground with a hoof. It's understandable considering Lizardfolk come in all shapes and sizes as well as attitudes.

"And since when have you learnt to speak their language?" Choji adds and he smiles thinly as he holds up a certain gem ring that's got a snake wrapped around the gem stone. "As long as it's got a language and is covered in scales, I understand them." He informs his good old buddy.

_One of the most useful magical items yet._ He adds privately to himself as his hand returns to resting on his hip. He returns to studying the group of mini Lizardfolks that are groveling before Ino.

"Could one of you do something other then standing around and gawking at me?!" Ino snaps at them, clearly getting impatient about her current situation. "Well?"

With a sigh, he steps forward and addresses the mini Lizardfolk who's wearing a necklace of claws. The group seem startled at first before they began to explain a bit more about what's going on with their quest. It took time but he finally got through to the group of Lizardfolk that they were short on time and could they get down to business without any of the usual ceremonies and customs one used with a Touched Holy One.

The group of nine converse among themselves before they agree with his point. It helped that he informed them that they were also on a mission of importance as well, one that he helped imply that the deity of the mini Lizardfolk had given them.

So the dwarf Lizardfolk seem to agree that they didn't want to disrupt their mission for long as well, which is why, by nightfall, they arrived at the edge of a glade where various carved stone pillars are arranged in a pattern with various bleached and rotting bones are scattered between. They also spotted a few recently deceased mini Lizardfolk about the out edge of the stone pillars.

"Why are we doing this?" Ino wonders and he could tell that Choji's in agreement with their female team-mate. He just sighs as they sit down for a quick supper before invading the glade.

"As troublesome this is, it would be more troublesome for them to tag along to try and 'rescue' their Touched Holy One." He glances pointly at Ino before adding, "It also took me time to talk them into forgoing their usual ceremonies and customs when encountering a Touched Holy One."

Ino blinks before glancing over at the group of dwarf Lizardfolk, likely not convinced that the little guys could kidnap her. He rather doubts it would have been an enjoyable experience to have the nine following them and then striking when they proceed to see an opportunity. _You never know what they'd do when they got desperate enough to actively engineer a situation where we'd become separated._

"It's not that bad, they know what's guarding the glade. It's a Bone Naga." He informs the two and Ino just sighs.

"Good thing Ino got a bundle of Undead Dispel scrolls then." Choji muses and he nods while pointing out, "Which is why doing this won't take long."

"Fine, but the next group we encounter looking for help, we so bypass. We're too close to our goal after all." Ino says and he just shrugs, knowing that Ino's right, that in less then four days they'll arrive at the meeting point. Though whether or not they'll be the first to arrive or the last is anyone's guess.

"Dart hasn't shown his face for a pretty long time. I wonder if something happened to the little guy?" Choji wonders out loud after a few minutes of silence between them as they seem to get lost in thought.

"He might have had to wait for the Hokage to finish up some business before Dart could report about what's happened." He muses as he finishes with his rabbit jerky. "I mean, the position does come with a large work load..."

"I wonder if Naruto knows that?" Choji muses with a hint of a smile and he could only shrug, although he couldn't help but think that if Naruto ever does get the position that those Shadow Clones of his would help with the work load.

"One could only assume so." He muses.

)**-o-**(

**Orochimaru**

_They shall pay for this._ He thinks as he watches the exchange between the Drow slavers and the members of the Sound Four. Not that he could do anything but glare and make private vows of pain and suffering for this trusted slaves.

Ukon and Sakon just smirk, showing their tiny tusk as they glance his way. Sakon waves as the twins depart, leaving the two human rogues that are Kidomaru and Jirobo leave without glancing in his direction. He should have seen this coming, after all, Tayuya couldn't have grown such a back bone without help and encouragement.

_Perhaps I should have tortured her a bit more before killing her..._ He muses, his thoughts drifting on what to do to his 'bodyguards' once he escapes from these Drow slavers.

The only reason he snaps out of his thoughts when an enslave Urd tries to snatch a ring that's on one of his fingers. He yanks his hand out of the dull yellow scaled, winged Kobold-like being but the thing growls and tries to yank at his arm. The yellow colored being hisses before biting him, causing him to hiss in pain and punches the Urd in the head, only to hit one of the horns growing out of the Urd's head.

He couldn't help but feel the sting at the fact that his physical prowess isn't what it should be. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that the Drow seem to be enjoying the scene of him fending off the Urd. On seeing nothing more going on between him and the now cursing Urd speaking broken common and some hissing tongue.

Finally the Drow were ready to leave and whips began to flicker about the crowd of slaves, which now includes him. Whenever he tried to cast a spell, the magical cuffs about his wrist, sucking the magical energy he's trying to gather for said spell.

"I shall have my revenge." He mutters under his breath as a fifth whip finds a spot to land on his upper body.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

_Well, big surprise there._ She muses at the sight of 'Lord' Sathar lying on the ground, likely fainted due to too much to drink and the sudden appearance of a pack of horned drakes that were chasing after a party of scouts. A party of scouts that look very much look the worst for wear, which is why she's already calling upon her magical abilities that her patron goddess grants her in the way of healing.

The men and horses glow softly, showing that her magic had reached them while Kiba shouts a war cry while charging forward to attack one of the drakes head on. She's unsurprised to see Akamaru hot on Kiba's heels as she takes out her bow and begins to take aim as she notches an arrow upon her bow.

Her shoot enters into a snout of a horned drake, causing the scaled creature to get distracted and to ram into a fellow drake. A minor bit of chaos arises from the pair as the drake she shot tries to rid itself of the injury. She blinks as a large fire fall engulfs said injured drake as she's already taking aim at another horned drake, this time the arrow enters into the meaty throat of a lunging horned drake.

She does note that a lot of the scouting party moves to rally around Kiba and Akamaru while the merchants and young nobles kind of just wander about, most already taking off to some point behind them or just plain panicking while shouting out random orders. Over all, none of them were helping out in the fight with the horned drakes.

_Idiots, what did they expect this to be like? A deer hunt?_ She thinks as she fires her fifth arrow, this time the arrow hits the scales and thus getting deflected by said armor like scales.

Her seventh got deflected by the head fin while her next managed to enter into a horned drake's eye. Her arrows seem to annoy the horned drakes more then anything, thus leading to enrage the drakes in the natural course of things. It helps that Shino seems to target those drakes she hits with various fire spells that cause the arrows to catch on fire, allowing for the drakes to get some fire damage through the open wounds that the arrow leave behind once they've become ashes.

Slowly the horned drakes are pushed back, though not without causalities to their side, although when she had a moment, she casts a spell that causes those that have fallen to regain their life once more. It's a huge drain on her reserves but well worth it for the moral effect that surges through those still fighting on at Kiba's side.

_Looks like we won._ She muses before glancing over to the fallen young nobles and merchants. _In no thanks to you lot either._

She jerks slightly when Akamaru howls and as she turns to find said blink dog, she's just in time to watch as Kiba joins Akamaru in howling. Cries of join from the guards soon join the two while they raise their weapons and/or shields, joyous to be alive and of their victory over their beastly foes.

"It would appear that nobody in charge is either around or awake to stop us if we start looting those drakes." Shino states calmly and she nods while watching as the ex-captain speaking with Kiba. "Shall we?" Shino asks her after a few seconds of silence.

"Might as well." She admits and pressing her heels gently into her mount's side, she guides the mare towards the closest dead drake.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	34. Arc 2: Chapter 15

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Shikamaru**

_How do we get into this position?_ He wonders to himself as he continues to test out the lute the merchants had on hand. He could feel Ino glaring over his shoulder while the head ugly toys with a dagger.

Finally a song comes to mind, where it came from, he didn't know but as long as it satisfies their 'hosts' he didn't care. He begins to play the cords as best as he could on the lute. His gaze sweeping about the group of half-fiends, particularly on the lard ass leader sitting on a chair that seems to be the size of a small bed.

"Angel of darkness  
Angel of darkness  
The world is in your hand  
But I will fight until the end  
Angel of darkness  
Angel of darkness  
Don't follow your command  
But I will fight and I will stand  
When darkness falls  
Pain is all  
The angel of darkness  
Will leave behind  
But I will fight  
The love is lost  
Beauty and light  
Have vanished from garden of delight  
The dreams are gone, the night has come  
The darkness is our new kingdom  
Hey yeah  
Angel of darkness  
Angel of darkness  
The world is in your hand  
But I will fight until the end  
Angel of darkness  
Angel of darkness  
Don't follow your command  
But I will fight and I will stand  
Hunt goes on deep in the night  
Time to pray  
Down on your knees  
You can't hide from the eternal light  
Until my last breath I will fight  
Not realized, the stars they die  
Darkness has fallen paradise  
But we'll be strong  
And we will fight  
Against the creatures of the night  
Angel of darkness  
Angel of darkness  
The world is in your hand  
But I will fight until the end  
Angel of darkness  
Angel of darkness  
Don't follow your command  
But I will fight and I will stand  
Yeah yeah"

The crowd of half-fiends glance at their boss, waiting to see fatty's reaction so they can mimic it. It wouldn't do for one of the 'drones' display an opinion different from their 'queen'. Especially in a public setting and their 'queen' seems to be warring between amusement to spiteful.

_Must be pissed that he liked it but had given any thought that I could actually play a lute. So troublesome._ He muses privately to himself, although he did acknowledge that satyrs were more known for their flute playing then anything.

"Perhaps the young bard should play another song, if only to prove that his sorceress friend didn't some how cast an illusion upon the player?" One of the likely advisers suggest in a very cautious manner on seeing the emotional war playing about on fatty's face.

The head slug glances sharply at said adviser before giving an order. "Knock that witch out to be sure that what we're about to hear is the genuine playing of this... Satyr."

Then adding as an afterthought, "Be sure not to play the same song, boy. Variety is the spice of life after all."

_Hopefully Choji will be stealthy enough to put some kind of rescue plan into action._ He thinks as he says, "Of course, sir."

He plays the first thing that comes into his head.

"The world seems not the same  
Though I know nothing has changed  
It's all my state of mind  
I can't leave it all behind  
I have to stand up to be stronger

I have to try  
To break free  
From the thoughts in my mind  
Use the time that I have  
I can say goodbye  
Have to make it right  
Have to fight  
'Cause I know in the end it's worthwhile  
That the pain that I feel slowly fades away  
It will be all right

I know  
I should realize  
Time is precious  
It is worthwhile  
Despite how I feel inside  
Have to trust it'll be alright  
Have to stand up to be stronger

I have to try  
To break free  
From the thoughts in my mind  
Use the time that I have  
I can say goodbye  
Have to make it right  
Have to fight  
'Cause I know in the end it's worthwhile  
That the pain that I feel slowly fades away  
It will be all right

Oh, this night is too long  
Have no strength to go on  
No more pain I'm floating away

Through the mist I see the face  
Of an angel, calls my name  
I remember you're the reason I have to stay

I have to try  
To break free  
From the thoughts in my mind  
Use the time that I have  
I can say goodbye  
Have to make it right  
Have to fight  
'Cause I know in the end it's worthwhile  
That the pain that I feel slowly fades away  
It will be all right"

And he sighs as an arrow enters and kind of exits out of boss slug's skull which is followed by a war cry that belongs to his good friend. He's already moving towards their fallen comrade, taking out a thin knife he keeps hidden within one of his a leg guards.

Chaos surrounds him as various individuals try to organize themselves but it's a little too late as Choji manages to break through their weak ranks to charge towards him. He swings Ino onto Choji's back before climbing up himself, he manages to keep Ino from falling off as Choji retreats from the company of half-fiend merchants.

_More like land pirates._ He thinks sourly, more then a little glad he managed to hide their bags about ten feet away from where the company had captured Ino and himself. They only had a small pouch of coins along with food and water skins, nothing they'd really miss actually.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

"I can't believe you picked that... that... that beetle over something with teeth, claws, and mass!" Kiba says as they exit out of the traveling shop that specializes in familiars. "It's the size of a mouse!" Kiba adds as they head to the inn.

Shino carries the enchanted metal cage that contains the Lightning Beetle. "Kiba... You should have known he'd go with an insect. Especially considering we're still unsure what's happened... is happening to his colony while we're taking this exam." She says, reminding Kiba of the fact that Shino's clan is one of bug users.

Akamaru arffs in agreement and Kiba has the decency to look sheepish, which is an odd expression on a canine like face. "Oh yea... Sorry, you know how it is, especially considering the fact that it's over two years since we've been here." Kiba says.

She looks away from her friend, preferring to look at Shino's purchase. Then a thought crossed her mind and she turns to give Kiba an appraising look. "You know, you never gave us a very satisfying answer to what you had bought that one time back when you were a warlock." She says and Kiba grimaces in a very noticeable manner.

"I really don't want to talk about that." Kiba says as her team-mate glances every where but in Akamaru's direction and at her. Then after a few minutes, Kiba finally seem to droop and says softly, "I create a zombie crow, ok? I killed it before we arrived at those ruins where Naruto got abducted."

She couldn't help but pause to stare at Kiba, very much at a lost of words. Kiba just sighs while Shino pauses to glance from Kiba to her before entering into the inn they're saying at. "It was just an experiment." Kiba adds, managing to look into her face for a few minutes.

She finally comes out of her shock to sigh. "You know, it's kind of nice to finally admit what I did." Kiba says as they enter the inn, Kiba holding the door for her and she just nods.

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"Den! Stay in the cabin!" He orders as he moves to open the door that leads out onto the deck. He feels Den's agreement before he opens the door and then stares dumbly at the monster currently attacking the ship.

A gargantuan creature seems to be more concerned using the ship to scrap off it's unwanted riders. He's confident that he's got two pincers beyond the spikes that seem to grow in patches about the yellowish orange beast. The beast seems to be unaware that it's wrapping itself around their ship, something which his two team-mates are having trouble with.

He does note that Sakura seems to be in hybrid form as he tries to get a better glimpse of what species the riders of the beast were. He recovers as one of the riders seem to summon lightning and causes the beast shudder as white lightning dances about the beast's hide. The pincers slice through the ropes that were looped about them.

He turns his attention to the tightening coils of the beast's tail. With a shake of his head, he knew he couldn't do anything against the monster so decides to try and strength the ship so they can, hopefully, survive this encounter intact. It took what seems to be an era before he found something about the ship he can work with.

His vision goes inward and almost like blinking, he finds himself staring at a green ghost of a whale skeleton. While he's unsure why a whale and not a tree, he goes to work trying to nurse the wishy washy green outline of bones into actual bones. It took not just power but also a strong will not to fuse with said skeleton while working to strengthening what little life remains in the ship's wooden make up.

One of the primary jobs was working to weave the miss placed bones together since not all of the bones belonged with the 'head' of the whale, which is kind of what he expects considering that various kind of trees have been used to craft the wooden ship. He only stopped when a web of roots covers every bit of the now green and brown whale skeleton.

He blinks as thunder seems to roar within this mindscape, causing him to glance around and then groans at the sight of various panels of paper with kanji written all over them. It took him a few seconds to realize what these panels represented, although the kanji helped. He scratches his head as he glances between the whale skeleton and the paper panels.

"Maybe if I... Hum, that should work." He muses and then hears a snort. He blinks and glances behind him to find a very familiar black furred humanoid tiger. "Oh, it's just you." He says, although he's a bit confused as to why he's getting confronted by his previous character.

"Is that all you have to say, _Druid_? But then, we're really not suppose to met if at all." The reflection of his warrior self muses.

"Then why are you here, _Fighter_?" He says, blinking, he hadn't expected to say Fighter but something else. "That was weird..."

The Rakshasa gives him a look of sympathy before moving to step towards the paper panels. "I'm here because as a Rakshasa, my experience when dealing with magic consisting of non-druid type are needed." The black furred fighter says and he sighs, he couldn't help but agree with that statement.

"And the item is the anchor that's allowing us to work together, not to say anything about the fact that we're traveling through the 'ocean' between realms and various magical planes..." He says slowly and the tiger looking being grins in a toothy manner.

"Yea, talk about magic taking a life of its own..." The Fighter muses before pointing to the far right adding, "Besides, that requires your abilities and attention more then these spells."

He turns and finds wooden statues consisting of Den, Sakura, and Sasuke, the latter two not in their current incarnations. He flinches at the sight of blood slowly oozing out of some of the wounds that have been inflicted upon the statues. "I believe you're right." He says to Fighter and a glance at the floating skeleton, he moves to attend to his friends while the sound of thunder continues to roar throughout this mindscape.

"Hang in there you guys. We still got a few things to do before waking." He says at the wooden statues and takes out a cloth from his pouch to begin wiping the oozing blood from the statues, trusting the Fighter to deal with the spells upon the ship in such a way so he can integrate them into the green and brown whale skeleton with the mesh weave of teal roots.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_

Readers:

I don't own the songs Pale or Angel of Darkness!


	35. Arc 2: Chapter 16

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"Think it'll hold up under the strain, _Fighter_?" He asks the black furred humanoid that is a part of him and yet wasn't. "I mean, you did crafted that out of all of those paper panels..."

"It'll hold up, _Druid_. I'm a natural sorcerer even if I preferred the way of the blade." The black furred Rakshasa remarks with a tsk.

"It looks like a fireball." He couldn't help but point out as thunder continues to sound in this dreamscape. "I keep expecting the skeleton to catch fire."

"Then maybe you should strengthen it." Is the parting reply as the Rakshasa vanishes into his shadow and he just sighs.

"I'm so going to regret this..." He murmurs as he walks up to the skeleton, not caring that he's walking on air to get to the head, the wooden statues that he had been working on were forgotten upon the ground. The skeleton stops moving and even comes 'swimming' towards him.

"This is going to hurt so much..." He mutters as he traces a index finger along the lower jaw of the whale skull. Lightning seems to jump about the surface as his finger continues to make contact with the skull. Pulling his finger away, he takes a deep breath before placing both of his palms upon the whale skull.

He hisses softly as electricity dances up his arm and his hair seems to stand on end. He works through the pain to cause muscle to grow to flush out the bones and the meshy roots. The fireball within the rib cage is soon hidden from sight as neon green muscle with red bits of fat.

As the pain and doziness begin to take their toll, the muscle then sprouts a layer of brown, bark like skin. The thunder in the background slows as he feels himself slowly fall away from the brown whale as it begins to sing a song. The ship whale vanishes in a blink of his eye.

He lands on something, something that is bobbing up and down and the whale song seem just an inch away from his ear. He takes a deep, calming breathe and as he closes his eyes, he feels the world around him alters and by the time he opens his eyes once more, he finds himself laying down on the deck of the ship with Den whining someplace behind him.

"Naruto! You ok?" He hears Sakura shout at him and he just groans before finding the strength to lift his head.

"Just... tired..." He mutters softly as he tries to focus on what's going on around him. Not that he feels like hurrying as he feels really, really drained.

He can feel Den's worry but couldn't find it within himself to rush himself as he focuses on sitting up. He notes in an abstracted way that the monster's tail is still wrapped around the ship but found himself unworried about that. He watches as lightning hits the deck after Sakura dodges to the side.

Sakura tries to, once more, hack at the offending tail that's still wrapped about the ship. Sasuke seems to be engaged in a fight with one of those riders of the beast. He isn't disturbed as the scratches and cuts of his two team-mates heal within seconds of being inflicted, after all, he had mended those wooden statues while waiting for the black furred fighter to finish messing around with those spells, fusing them into a ball of fire that then got inserted into the whale's chest.

He tries to suppress a yawn and tries to gather what little resolve he has to keep himself from dozing off. It wouldn't do for him to fall asleep in the middle of a battle. _Could this even be called a battle?_ He wonders as Sasuke's opponent finally disengages from Sasuke to leap onto the large tail and begins racing upon the giant monster's back, heading back to its allies while Sasuke just watches the being retreat.

_It's not as if the monster or its riders are really paying us any heed..._ He admits as he watches the interactions going on between the humanoid beings and the beast that seems to be about the size of a really old dragon. The one eyed monster doesn't seem to care about the ship one way or another while the riders seem more intent on killing said cyclops, clearly not looking to start a fight with any of them or else that one that Sasuke was engaging wouldn't have fled off ship.

"I think we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He mutters to himself as Sasuke comes to give him a hand to stand up. He gives himself a shake and blinks a few times after finding himself staring down at the deck.

"What do you mean by that?" The current half-fiend asks with a slight frown and he just waves his hand over to the main body of the creature. Sasuke follows his hand only to look at him once more with a much more increasingly annoyed look upon his face.

"That creature isn't interested in us. We're just something it came upon while it's struggling with those beings upon its back and head." He points out. "And those guys are too pre-occupied with killing that cyclops monster to care about what we might have on board our ship in terms of treasure."

"Neither are really attacking us, Sasuke. We're just some kind of log floating down a 'river'. We're not on their radar, we might have been if we encountered either on their own but not when they're busy with each other." He couldn't help but stress.

"I hate it when you're making way too much sense..." Sasuke growls softly as the rogue sees it his way. He just grins in a weary kind of way. "Not that it helps solve the tail problem..." Sasuke remarks and he glances over to the slowly tightening coils of the cyclops' long, snake tail.

"I did my bit, I did what I could to increase the strength of the hull of the ship. What's left is getting rid of that tail section." He says with a shrug, wincing as whirl blades of wind seems to pass around Sasuke and his profiles, hitting the deck with enough strength to leave gashes upon the wood.

He watches as the minor scratches upon Sasuke's face close up within seconds, healing in a very speedy fashion. He touches a few spots upon his own body and found only a minor soreness but not rips upon his being. "It's like those attacks just ghosted right through you..." Sasuke mutters in surprise with a hint of awe upon the other's face.

He just sighs, he really didn't know what to say and therefore decided not to say anything at all. He glances over to where Sakura is and just shakes his head at the sight of Sakura's blade bouncing off of the creature's thick hide. It's clear that Sakura's not having any real luck with penetrating the beast's scaly leather hide.

"And the tail is suppose to be the least defended spot on something like that..." He hears Sasuke muse with a sigh. He just slightly shakes his head.

"We're so not going to have any luck getting rid of any of this... We're also already veering off course too." He admits, some of his energy returning.

"That's assuming we knew we were on course to begin with." Sasuke points out with a bit of a smirk upon his face before Sasuke glances towards the main body of the beast and frowns, likely regarding the battle going on atop of the cyclops' body.

"One could only hope we knew what we were doing... I'm no sorcerer or wizard after all. I'm pretty much out of my depth in dealing with any spells placed upon this ship." He admits, although his hand does go to that particular item he crafted for a second before placing his hand on his hip while his other goes to his chin as he studies the struggle going on with Sakura and the tail.

"You know any spells to increase the sharpness of our blades?" Sasuke asks curiously and he snorts softly. "Then what can you do to help with the tail?" The other asks him.

"What would happen if we come out of this Astral Sea with that tail still wrapped around the ship?" He wonders out loud as that thought circles about within his mind. He's more then a little curious as to hear Sasuke's thoughts on the matter since the Uchiha was standing right there.

"Wouldn't know, wouldn't we drag it and them into the Prime Material Plane along with us?" Sasuke muses and he hums in a thoughtful manner. "What, you think we wouldn't?"

"I didn't say anything, but you do have wonder... Can that beast even survive in the Prime Material Plane? I mean, I don't recall any creature like it in any stories." He points out. "Something that huge... Can you imagine the kind of damage it could do to a city? A castle? An army on foot?"

Sasuke seems to shift his weight, clearly a sign that the other could see where he's coming from. "I mean, how hard would it be to summon something like that to do your bidding... I mean, wizards and sorcerers are always summoning devils, demons, and other planar beings, so why haven't somebody summoned that?" He muses.

After a few minutes, Sasuke says, "You know, while this is a very fascinating conversation, I don't think we'll be worrying about it anymore." He blinks as he comes out of his thoughts to stare at his team-mate.

"I'm pretty sure we're about to have something new to worry about. After all, how often do you encounter a floating keep in this place?" Sasuke says, pointing to some point beyond Sakura and he follows the finger to see said floating keep.

"Looks like we got another dungeon to raid or something." He muses with a frown as Sasuke yells at Sakura to snap her out of her current rage. To alert her to their collision with a bit of floating land in this Astral Plane, a plane that exists between planes.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

"Where did that crow come from?" Lee asks him as they watch their female team-mate try to lure the bird towards her by offering it some jerky. It's been days since they've encountered another living thing since they entered the stone manor to rest.

Undead circle around the abandon manor, unable to leave but also unable to enter into the slowly rotting building. It's been at least a day since they last seen the team from Sand. Though he's pretty sure that they're exploring the basement in hopes of finding answers to the problem of the undead. It wouldn't surprise him that Kankuro ends up with said magical artifact either, after all, Kankuro is a practicing Necromancer and would make better use of this artifact that affects the undead then he ever could.

"Flew in?" He muses after Lee refuses to take his shrug for an actual answer. Lee huffs softly, clearly not liking the idea of some bird being able to enter into a room they secured for their own use.

"So I was once more practicing transfiguration on inanimate objects and Tenten took a liking to that fork turned crow." He finally confesses and Lee just grunts before standing up from his position of sleeping with his back towards the wall. Lee yawns slightly, glistening fanged teeth shine slightly in candle light while he turns to read more about the subject of transfiguration, thinking of turning some of the stone rubble into arrows for Tenten to use.

"How long until the crow goes back to being a fork?" Lee asks him curiously after the Dragonborn monk finishes stretching. He glances up from his book to glance over at the crow.

"Might transform back by dawn or sooner." He answers before the undead out in the surrounding courtyard begin their nightly chorus of groans, screams, and other haunting noises. "How they can make any noise lacking a proper set of lungs, I'll never know..." He mutters under his breath while the fake crow caws at the new sounds.

"Might be telepathic communication." Lee suggests as the Dragonborn rummages around within his pack for something to eat for supper. "Or there's a small dimensional crossover from the Ethereal Plane and that's where the sounds are really originating from."

"That sounds so reasonable... It's scary." He admits, he couldn't help but be a bit impressed with Lee's insight.

"Well, you do tend to fall asleep with a book in your lap." Lee admits. "And I really doubt you'd like Tenten being the one to put you to bed." Lee adds and he just nods in agreement with that sentiment.

"Also... Couldn't you, I don't know, transform into a dragon and destroy the lot of them with your frosty breath?" Lee wonders and he sighs. He had been expecting this conversation for a while now.

"Lee... When you look at me, what do you see?" He asks the Dragonborn and the other pauses in mid-chew for a few seconds to study him. Lee's yellow, reptilian eyes rarely blink as the monk does so.

"A human with odd ridges around your eyes, on your nose, and around your jaw?" Lee muses, finally blinking and after swallowing what's within his mouth.

"Fairly correct." He admits before sighing. "I kind of went over board with my history and this body is a result of that. You see, I should have more scales and maybe a pair of wings growing out of my back but, being vain, I thought it would be a good idea to put something in my history explaining my too human appearance."

"Meaning...?" Lee asks curiously, he could only imagine the look of interest on Tenten's face even though she's not looking in his direction. It's clear that the crow wasn't holding Tenten's interest at this particular moment.

"I put something into my history about a 'cousin' of mine deciding to 'punish' me for my 'disgracing' my 'noble' heritage with 'foul' foreign blood. That this 'cousin' placed bindings upon me to keep the more powerful abilities from being used before teleporting me to the mainland without anything but the cloth upon my back. Hoping that some humanoid will remove the stain on the family that I represent." He admits, it had sounded to be such a good idea at the time too...

"So these bindings keep you in human form?" Lee asks slowly and he nods. "You really are a diva, huh?" Lee finally states and he just sighs, which causes Tenten to chuckle softly from her position.

"I prefer vain." He says, after all, that's what he got for preferring to amp up his other stats and being left with such a low number for the one that determines his looks. He goes back to reading his book, pointedly ignoring the other two within the room.

-)**T**(-

"So... This is the thing had been animating that horde of undead..." Lee muses as the monk holds the simple glass orb to the candle light, causing the clear orb to take a sickly green glow.

"Until Gaara touched, it was." Kankuro agrees, clearly not happy that fragile enchantment had been broken from his brother simply touching the orb. The only remaining magic seems to be leaking away, soon the glass orb will be just that, a glass orb without any special enchantments upon it or special abilities to offer its owner.

Tenten looks more then a little happy about that, but then, elves, even half-elves, never liked mocking around with the dead. It doesn't help Tenten's usual mood that they're traveling in the company of a Necromancer so Tenten had to take her moments where she can.

"Well, at least everything ended well." Tenten says as she finishes swinging her bow over her shoulder. More then ready to leave the manor, but then, Tenten is a ranger and preferred to sleep under the stars then having a roof over her head.

"But it's now a useless trinket!" Kankuro objects at Tenten's cheerful point of view. "It must have been a master piece of Necromancy before Gaara touched it and ruined it!" Kankuro bemoans as they snuff out the candles now that they're all packed.

"I'm sure you'll find something to replace it one of these days." Temari says in a comforting tone as she takes the glass orb from Lee.

Kankuro doesn't reply, allowing them to leave the manor in peace at least.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	36. Arc 2: Chapter 17

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"I wonder who would want to live out here?" Sakura wonders as they stare up at the buildings that litter the courtyard of the floating bit of land. He does note that those beings have blinded the huge orangish monster using their spears.

"We could stretch our legs..." He muses, he rather not be around when those beings decide to investigate them. Before he could stop it, he yawns and out of the corner of his eye, he finds Sasuke giving him a questioning look.

"You don't seem to be up for any long treks, dobe." The rogue of their team remarks and he glances away from Sasuke. He did have to agree, but he also doesn't want to be alone with those beings hanging around.

"I rather not be alone when those guys come to investigate our ship." He finally says and the other two glance off towards the spot where the upper body of the monster is resting. He's not glancing in that direction as he feels fairly confident that he could imagine what's going on by the dim cheers that hang about in the air.

"I think they're going to be busy for a while. Why don't you just head back in and get some sleep? You really look like you can use it, Naruto." Sakura says firmly and he hears Den echo the weretiger's statement.

Glancing at the two and then finally towards the otter, he grudgingly begins to walk towards the cabin to go to his room to recover his reserves. "Fine, but you guys better wait until I'm wake before investigating that keep!" He says, bending down to pick up a slightly nervous Den from the floor.

Den moves to climb up onto his shoulders, the otter's head resting on his right shoulder while the rear legs and tail hang about his left. _Too bad I can't create shadow clones... I could have a few going through what books we have in hopes of getting an idea about what that monster is, what those beings are, and an idea of why this keep is here._ He thinks to himself as he scratches Den's sleek neck while Den's whiskers tickles his ear.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

"Shino! Your bug zapped me again!" Kiba shouts from the other room as Shino slowly reads through their collective scroll collection they have looted over the two years they have been adventuring.

"Kiba... You shouldn't poke Shino's so-to-be familiar. I don't see Shino poking Akamaru." She says to Kiba as she sorts through the junk items they have collected; some of which she plans to sell to some merchant before they leave.

"But it keeps ramming the cage, causing sparks to fly out onto the table!" Kiba says as the paladin comes to stand by the door. She glances towards the door to find that Kiba is hold the cage containing the beetle and sure enough, sparks were coming off of the beetle's wings as the beetle flutters them while ramming the bars.

"It's not like those sparks will cause the table to catch fire." Shino remarks calmly and Kiba growls like the canine he appears to be for a few seconds before stomping off back to the other room that they're renting.

Shaking her head, she returns to her self assigned task of sorting through what they should keep. Some of the stuff could be used for spell components that Shino needs for future spells or old ones. _Next I'll go through our rations to see what's fresh and what isn't._

)**-o-**(

**Shikamaru**

"We should have just left it where we found it." He says to Ino but his female team-mate just gives him a scratching look while Choji continues to pull the wagon that Ino had loaded up with the bandit's loot after packing it up into chests, crates, and packs. _This is so troublesome._

"The least we could have done was hitch up some of those horse instead of having Choji all by himself. It's not much of a reward considering he did save us." He couldn't help but remark, gently reminding Ino that they could still run into trouble and they might need Choji in good shape for fighting these future enemies they have yet to encounter.

"So does that mean you were willing to lure those animals back for that purpose? I thought you said it was too troublesome." Ino states and he scowls, silently acknowledging he hadn't given her request any real thought when the Githzerai had asked him to use his bard magic to call the animals back.

_I highly doubt that after picking a team she would have let the others go..._ He thinks to himself. _She has gotten pretty good at finding ways to make money, so I wouldn't put it pass her to want to resell the animals, all of them._

"It's almost evening. I don't think we'll make it to this town before nightfall." Choji says after silence hangs between Ino and himself.

"Sounds fine." He manages to say before Ino could try and convince them to keep going. "Just stop when you find a good enough spot." He adds and he watches as Choji nods his head.

Ino's eyes flash but in the end, instead of rounding on him verbally, the only non-hoof member of their team just crosses her arms and looks pointedly away. He feels a bit satisfied at her reaction since it saves him from getting an earful.

)**-o-**(

**Gaara**

The wind moves through his fur as he continues to flap his transformed arms. His body bobs up and down with each up and down stroke of his wings. The same wind whistles in his ears as he flies through the night while the others make camp a few feet northeast of his current location.

He suddenly lunges downwards and with a swift bite, he snaps the rodent's neck. Without a care, he begins to rip into the rodent, going for the organs before abandoning the rest to scavengers. A fox hangs back, clearly wary of him but as he flies away, the fox charges forth to get it before something else comes to take it.

_It's fairly nice not having to listen to the rantings of an insane demon._ He muses. _Kankuro and Temari have been treating me differently as well. They're not as afraid as they once were nor are they as annoying as I use to recall._

He pushes those thoughts aside as he finds another rodent so he can eat said organs. He is force to veer away as a feral black feline lunges forward and kills said rodent. He flies higher into the night air.

He flies around the rocky field and witness different battles occurring below. He did blink in surprise when a pale coated stoat stalks that feral cat. He jerks as the stoat's eyes suddenly glow red and the stoat's mouth opens to reveal longer then average canines just seconds before the stoat lunges forward.

The cat is a second too slow to stop the stoat from sinking its fangs into its body but after a full minute of getting clawed upon by the much larger predator, the vampire stoat slinks away while the cat bolts from the site, leaving the rat it killed behind. He follows the stoat for a few minutes, pondering if he should leave the creature be or engage it.

After giving it some thought, he dive bombs the vampire stoat and fights to knock it out while still in his bat form. Once it was out, he shifts into his hybrid form and picks the little bugger up, putting the blood sucker into his pouch so he can give it to Kankuro as a gift, he's pretty sure his brother would enjoy having something like it as a pet.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	37. Arc 2: Chapter 18

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

On waking, he takes a few minutes to stroke Den as the otter is curled up by his side. Finally, he scoops up the otter before moving off the bed. Den chirps sleepily before yawning, within a few seconds, the otter is wide awake and energetic as well as looking to get down to the ground.

He crouches before a wooden chest, Den leaps onto the top of it and then onto the ground. Not that he really minded as the feel of the ship has changed, changed enough that the floor boards seem to be sporting a thin layer of mesh roots. Fresh green in color too.

"It's like an organic carpet." He muses as he opens the chest to switch out some things from his Bag of Holding. He also snacks on some jerky, giving Den a minor strip as well.

Once he's switched out his current weapons for a shield and a sickle. He also switches most of his magical items around, looking for things that will help him gather magical energy faster as well as improve his spell casting abilities. He keeps the item that aids in shape-shifting since he might need it to get into tight spaces or to fly over gaps where bridges have given way.

"So, what do you want to wear?" He asks Den and the otter moves from leaning upon the chest to moving into the dimensional enchanted chest, part of a set of six, two for each member of the party. He shakes his head as a little hair pendent hangs from Den's mouth.

He picks the otter up out of the chest and takes the hair ornament from clever beast. It takes him a few seconds to weave a minor spell that will allow Den's fur to grow long enough for the item to hold onto. Den chirps and shakes her body after he's done with her, the item remaining fixed to Den's body.

He grins at the otter once the chest is closed. He adjusts some of his armor once he stands up, making sure his shield sits comfortably upon his back and the sickle in his belt. Feeling that everything feels fine, he heads for the door only to pause to stare at the wood for a few seconds.

"Should have expected that the floor isn't the only thing that's been changed..." He mutters to himself before shaking his body and opening the door. Den bolts into the hall and he just chuckles softly before closing the door once he's out of the room.

He pauses to glance up at the glowing vines that grow out of the ceiling of the hallway. The vines glow various shakes of green, with some hues going towards teal. He then glances down and isn't all that surprised to see the mesh carpet of roots covering the floor boards.

And so he walks through the changed hall of the ship. _Who knew doing that would cause such interesting changes?_ He muses to himself as he finds Den waiting by the door leading into the cabin.

What he found in the cabin truly causes him to halt as he gets a good look at how altered the cabin is. "Ok, now I'm worried..." He mutters at the sight of pulsing, glowing runes and shimmering windows. At the center of the cabin is a chair with a movable steering thing that's growing out of the floor.

He moves and sits in the center chair and within seconds, the sheering wheel moves to rest before him so he doesn't have to reach forward to use it. He shakes his head as windows shimmer into existence around the chair, giving him views of what's going on outside of the cabin. With a sigh, he presses the steering wheel away and to his amazement, the steering wheel moves away as soon as the shimmering windows vanish from around the seat.

He gets out of the chair and heads for the door leading out onto the deck. He raises an eyebrow at the sight of an unmoving tail that has indeed loosen from around the haul of the ship. He walks over to the bow of the ship, moving under the tail and is a bit shocked to find the crisp remains of the huge monstrosity that the tail had belonged to.

"How long have I been asleep?" He wonders as he doesn't recall the body being set on fire before heading under to rest. He frowns as he glances around, trying to spot Sakura and Sasuke but they don't seem to be around.

Den seems to whine softly by his heel and he bends down to scratch the otter behind her ears. "Looks like we've got a mystery on our hands, Den. The questions, who set that corpse on fire? And where are Sakura and Sasuke?" He says to Den and the otter chirps in agreement.

"Well, let's go and investigate our biggest clue." He says to Den. He did consider transforming and flying down but then, how would Den get down?

And so, glancing around, he finds a few ropes hanging on the side of the deck. "Looks like Sakura and Sasuke had boarders..." He muses as he moves towards the ropes with Den following after.

Once Den and him were down, he uses Animal Shape on Den to transform the otter into a wolf before transforming into one himself. Den finishes running around him once he's done and with a bark, they head for the huge charred body of the monster that had wrapped its tail around their ship. He enjoys the sensation of racing about on all fours.

Once they're close, Den and him moves slightly around the body, sniffing the ground and making note of what tracks seem to be around the body. Minutes later, he widens the search in hopes of finding something other tracks but no such luck. Standing next to the dead body, he returns to his previous appearance while Den remains in the form of a wolf.

"Huh, looks like treasure was inside of this monster too. Not that anybody tried to collect it..." He mutters to Den as he bends down to pick up slightly melted coins that seem to be stuck together.

Den butts her head into his shoulder, whining slightly. He smiles and begins to scratch Den upon the head. Den sighs before pulling away to dig among the dirt, uncovering more fused coins and half melted items. He follows in Den's wake, picking up what he can and taking a few seconds to study it before pocketing it into his magical satchel.

After a few hours, Den uncovers what appears to be a small metal statue, one that seems to be unaffected by whatever caused the body to burn. The statue is about the size of his thumb and is made out of some kind of white metal that's been casted into the shape of a dragon with the head arced and open jaws.

"Looks like it could be part of a set..." He muses as he holds the metal statue. He flips it so he can see the bottom of it and finds something written upon the bottom, not that he could make head or tail of the writing.

"Well, I think we're done here, at least for now, Den. Let's go explore those houses." He says to the transformed otter and Den barks happily.

Putting the little figurine of the dragon into his satchel, he transforms once more into a wolf and then, with Den racing at his heels, they head for the huts that could be found before the massive keep.

-)**T**(-

Weaving between the moving golems, Den and him sneak into the gate of the keep while hiding under a wagon filled with slabs of stone. It seems that whoever owns this keep is doing some construction. He did notice a minor construction job going on within the keep's inner wall courtyard.

The wagon stops at the construction site, he notices a slightly a jarred door not far from. He ducks under and waits a few minutes before bolting for that door, Den hot on his heels. Within the room, he comes to a sharp stop at the sight of rusty weapons hanging upon the left wall.

Den growls slightly at his sharp stop but that's it. He glances away from the ancient looking weapons to glance around the room. Den moves to the right wall as he moves to inspect the one opposite from the entrance they come through. He snorts and shakes his head, he found a rotting door and on hearing Den whine and clawing, moves to inspect that door.

He found it equally rotten as the previous one. Glancing out into the courtyard, he transforms and allows the spell upon Den to expire, allowing the otter to return to being an otter as he takes hold of the door knob. He finds the door stuck and with a frown, he casts Wood Shape to alter the door so that it can be opened.

It takes a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the blackness of this room. With a frown, he goes through his satchel and pulls out one of the dozen self-lighting torches to light up the room. Den chirps and charges into the room, intent to explore every bit of it as well as the lower bunks of the stacked beds.

He doesn't find anything of interest within these quarters and neither does Den as the otter comes to trail after him as he finally leaves the room. He heads for the next door and is greeted by a stench of rotten flesh and droppings. With the torch to light up the room, he finds it to be an old stable and seems to be a site of some battle as he finds broken golem parts about the more open ended room and almost fully rotten skeletons belonging to some party of adventurers.

No cloths remain on the dead, he could only guess that the golems had been ordered to take everything off of the dead. He guesses that there might be a few coins remaining among the dust covered floor. He gets to the end of the stable and finds a minor path heading to right.

Opening that door meant doing some more Wood Shaping. He finds a large room with rusty armor that would likely be used upon horses that must have been stabled within the stable. No sign of dead bodies within this room. He finds rusty barrel rings along the wall, proving that this was where the food for the horse had been stored as well.

He also found a hole in a corner of the room that could be the source of the reek of dung that could be smelt from the stable itself and is much stronger within this equipment locker. Den moves along the wall to his left and then begins to scratch at something.

He moves and after a few seconds, watches as the torch's flame moves away from the wall. He then moves the torch up and down while trying to keep it in a straight line. It continues to blow away from the wall and he grins.

"Good job, Den." He says to the otter and she chirps smugly, clearly proud of her find. He begins to feel along the wall until a soft click sounds.

The wall moves inward but that's it. "Must be rusty." He muses and then begins to push upon the door, it gives slightly and even moves to the left.

He pauses to glance around for a place to put the torch while he tries to slide the door open. He wedges it between a metal plate and an anvil, it's unclear why an anvil would be within this storage place. He manages to open it just enough to put an arm through and then begins to study the top of the sliding door.

Nodding to himself, he reshapes the wood to allow the door to move along the old track. With a crack, the door suddenly become easier to move. He retrieves the torch and walks up the hidden case of stairs. He chuckles at the size of these rooms, the one he's in was used to be a smithery as he spots old blacksmith furnace, tools, and air pumps to help the furnace to burn brightly.

Den moves into the open room and he finds a huge space that likely had been used for those living in the barracks to train in and practice archery. He walks over to one of the arrow slits that face into the courtyard and gets a good view of the walled courtyard, particularly of the building project that seems to be one large pile of stone and metal.

"Well, you can't expect a golem to build anything without an overseer... They only do what you've tasked them to do, though they do that very well as long as the task is simple one." He muses to Den after the otter demanded to be picked up so she can look out of the arrow slit window.

Just as he's about to pull away from the window, something walks out of the huge doorway that leads into the main part of the keep. Den whines softly at the sight of golden head arcing into the courtyard. Unblinking burning red eyes glances at the site of construction project as more and more of this dragon appears, the strangely glowing dragon seems to be intent on studying the vast piles of stone and metal.

All he can sense from this beast was fire burning as hot as it could. _No life... Only the essence of soul and of fire..._ He thinks as he watches this creature in dragon shape move more into the courtyard until only not all of the tail is revealed. It also gives him a better view of odd glowing spots between scale joints, helping to give off that glowing sensation.

**_"That is enough."_** A mighty, yet hollow voice states, the jaws of the dragon never opening, causing all of the golems stop whatever they're doing. **_"Return to your posts about the wall."_**

This dragon thing glances down at one of those strange beings, likely some breed of devil. _**"I leave it to you to take inventory of what my minions have gathered. Remember, you can not escape this island, you are mine until I release you, fiend."**_ That powerful voice seemingly echos within the courtyard.

The devil turns and bows to the undead thing sporting the shape of a dragon. He watches as the golden form of a mighty golden dragon withdraws back into the keep, not that the devil comes out of the bow until many minutes later, likely when the dragon thing finally turned away from devil. He watches as the devil begins to move toward the piles upon piles of stone and metal.

"Well, at least we know what set that dead beast aflame..." He trails off. _And captured Sakura and Sasuke..._

With that in mind, he hums thoughtfully about how to get to that entrance where the dragon shaped undead being had appeared out of and retreated back into. He really didn't want to face off against that dragon thing, not even with Sakura and Sasuke at his side. He lets Den down and crouches down to stroke the otter.

"How do you feel about sparrows?" He asks Den after thinking the problem over. The otter chirps and moves around him a few times before stopping before him.

"Glad to see that you're excited about that plan." He muses with a slight grin and Den kind of stands up to touch noses with him.

With a shake of his head, he straightens up. Within minutes, a pair of sparrows were testing their wings within the training hall. One chirps very excitedly at this unique experience, much to the amusement of the other one.

After a few darts among the rafters and aerial acrobatics, he finally leads Den to the arrow slit, hoping down onto the rain gutter. Pausing only to be sure that Den is following silently after him.

With Den there, he launches himself off the ledge and takes off towards the huge doorway, trying not to take too many stops while flying to it. He relaxes as Den and him fly a few feet within before transforming back into their native forms. He grins, the rush of what they did still with him.

Glancing around, he takes out some jerky and feeds a strip to Den while munching on his own. It seems that flying about as a sparrow is tiring business.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	38. Arc 2: Chapter 19

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

With Den following at his heels he enters into a huge, fancy circular entrance way. To his left is a stair case leading up to a second floor. He would have been tempted to head up them if it weren't for the fact that they sport a thick layer of dust, showing that thing has gone up them in decades.

As Den and him move to the center of the room, his eyes adjust to the dimness of the room. He considers taking out another torch but decides not to since he doesn't want to alert any guards within this room. He's pretty sure that there had to be guards since that dead dragon likely still sports a hoard of treasure, which means that this undead thing must have more sentries then those golems to help safe guard the treasure.

With a slight shake of his head, he glances around the room to find one large hallway almost straight ahead and to the far right, a much smaller door way. With a shake of his head, he heads for the smaller door since he's confident that the undead dragon is located. Den moves before him and is the first to enter into the smaller doorway.

He raises an eyebrow at the sight of stairs going upward. With a shake, he follows Den up the stairs. These stairs lack the same layer of dust as those he spied upon entering the entrance way. _I wonder what this dead dragon has up here that it keeps dust from piling up?_

Den chatters softly once they read the landing. With a frown, he digs out that used torch and his fire starter kit to light the torch anew. Den makes a scowling sound at the sound of metal hitting flint but waits until he's done before dashing forward to race down the hallway.

The otter begins scratching at the door facing him, just a few feet away from a right turn. He takes hold of the door knob and enters into the room. He raises a minor eyebrow at finding a small kitchen complete with what appears to be side-doors that likely house food stores.

He gets close and with a frown casts Detect Magic. He's a bit alarmed at how much magic has been casted upon the various doors along the side of the room. He shakes his head as he turns to leave this small kitchen although it seems as though Den is a bit reluctant to follow him.

He back tracks and turns down the previous sighted hallway. On either side is lined with doors although he doesn't try to open any of them. It comes to another stairwell and climbs it to find another level and this time the doors were spaced apart. He walks down this hallway to find another stairwell, he climbs this one and once more finds a hallway, although this one seems to go around in a circle and the hallway to his left sports windows, giving him a good view of some inner courtyard that houses a lovely garden.

He does indeed find another set of stairs but begins to get the idea that this was a wing of some kind. He pauses before a rather decorative doorway and casts Detect Magic upon the door. On finding no magic upon it, he opens it out of curiosity.

The room within is huge and laying about on the floor he finds nicely dressed people who only appear to be sleeping. Minor plain typical statues were the only decor of the room if one does not include the sleepers. Stone benches ring around some magical crystal, this crystal must be the only light source for the room.

After a few minutes of studying the crystal, he decides to check upon those sleepers upon the floor. He casts Detect Magic and finds that those people were very much alive, just sleeping an enchanted sleep. He frowns at that but makes no move to touch any of them, even though some of their plain attire includes expensive looking jewelry.

With a shake of his head, he glances towards the string beads that drape down from the metal beam. He moves through them, trusting that nobody had gone to the effort of enchanting them. He also finds that the other side also sports another beam with beads dangling down, he keeps a hand over the torch head to keep the beads from catching on fire.

This connected room is much more interesting then the previous one as it sports crystals along the top wall of the room. He shakes his head as they softly reflect the torch light. He moves along the side of the room to get closer look at the paintings that hang upon the stone walls.

He finds a few head busts between paintings. He moves around them but pauses as he hears the beads continue to move. He glances over to find Den playing with them and he cocks his head to the side to begin considering the idea of taking them when he's done exploring these collection of rooms.

_Shouldn't be that hard to take the down._ He decides to himself before returning to taking inventory of this room and its paintings. He's careful of the large desk and chair that also seems to take up far corner from where Den is fooling around with those beads. He finds a few books and scrolls upon the shelf next to the desk.

He takes down a random volume and opens it upon the desk top. He finds an image of a highly stylized large cat resting upon a bank of a pool or some kind of body of water. The text on the other page is too alien for him to make sense out of.

He flips to another random spot and then another before he finally closes the book and returns it to its place upon the shelf. He considers the scrolls and decides to take them once he's casted Detect Magic once more. He then goes through the desk and it a bit surprise to find scrolls encased in glass in two of the six drawers. They, too, found their way into his satchel after he reads the magic that the scrolls contain.

_Not bad, a good dozen high grade wishing scrolls._ He thinks with a slight grin as he finally whistles for Den to come to him. He couldn't keep a grin off his face since it was a good find, although it did cause him to wonder why that dead dragon hadn't retrieved them itself but shrugs those thoughts away.

The final room has various chairs, couches, tables, dressers, mirrors, and chests. Although at the far end is a bed, it wouldn't surprise him too much to find a woman sleeping upon the large bed since most of the stuff within the room screams feminine touch. There is a side room and after taking a look, he just rolls his eyes at the sight of a pool that seems to be magically heated.

He pauses for a few seconds before glancing around. Then with a grin, he finds a place for his torch to be wedged so he can take advantage of the already present and filled pool.

-)**T**(-

_It's been so long since I had a bath in water above luke warm..._ He muses to himself as he finishes getting on his attire. He runs a hand through his still wet locks.

Den chirps before shaking her body, sending water flying all over the place. He laughs at the otter as he takes a towel and begins to rub Den down, much to her protests. It didn't take long for Den to wiggle out of his grip and to begin grooming herself.

He tosses the towels into a hamper before leaving the bathing area. He pauses and retreats his steps to claim his torch. With that, he moves back into the previous room. He moves to the bed to get a look at the owner, he's a bit surprised to see three young girls resting upon the bed.

_Triples._ He decides after studying the three with a critical eye. With a shrug, he begins to head back so he can leave this wing of the keep.

It wasn't long before Den arrives just as he manages to take down the metal beams that the strings of beads hang from. Den chatters angrily at him but he just grins down at the river dog as the decoration disappears into his satchel. "Relax, I'll set them up in my room when we return to the ship." He promises the otter.

Den's chatter takes an excited note on hearing that and watches as he finishes with the second one. With that done, the otter dashes for the open door that has slowly opened wider. Gripping the door, he kind of slams it shut, knowing the noise won't wake the sleepers in that first room.

After a while, Den and him return to that huge room that also leads out of the keep. With a glance around, Den and him keep to the wall as they head for the huge hallway, a hallway large enough to allow that undead golden dragon through. Within entering this hallway, he finds that the floor is gently slanted.

After walking about twenty feet, Den and him arrive at a vast room that sports many a fine aged decorations. Just before Den and himself was an artificial waterfall and a pool that's a rectangular in shape with the side ways being longer then the part opposite of the wall. The gentle roar of the waterfall causes him to relax since it will help Den and him sneak around within this part of the room as the noise from the waterfall will cover their chatter or footfalls.

Keeping that wall with the waterfall to his right, he walk along that wall until he comes to an archway that is the entrance way to a hall. He glances around and begins to walk down that hallway, a hallway that seems to go upwards, gently curving to the right until he has a good view of that garden he had seen while looking through a window.

Den surges forward and begins to chirp in worry. He frown and moves into a trot to see what has caught Den's attention. He finds Den circling around the center of the garden and on bending down to check the ground, he finds stains of red blood upon the grasses.

He sniffs the stains and something weighs down upon his guts. He finds deep tracks leading away from the center of the gardens and follows them with his sickle in hand. Den follows at a subdued pace.

He pauses as the tracks vanish into this wall. With a determined look, he begins to search for a way to open up this hidden door. It takes a few minutes until he found this stone upon the ground that isn't covered in moss.

Stepping upon the stone, the door opens up and thrusting the torch into the newly uncovered space. He finds steps leading down and goes down them, the door closing behind Den once the otter enters. At the bottom of the steps is a wooden door enforced with metal with a small window.

He glances into the window to find rows upon rows of metal bars. _Must be the dungeon..._ He thinks as he finds the door unlocked, that worried him until he realizes that the undead dragon likely never expected anyone to be able to sneak pass the golems.

His mood lighten ever so slightly at the thought of lax security. He could only hope that it applies to finding and helping his two team-mates. _Just how long was I sleeping?_ He wonders as his nose wrinkles at the smell of old split blood.

As he walks through the dungeon, he couldn't help but feel dread at the fact that nobody is within the cells. Den whines and claws at another door. Den cries out piteously and he felt uneasy since the only reason why there would be a room off to the side is either for more cells or for a torture chamber.

His hand grips the metal handle and after gathering his courage, he opens the door to find broken, dead devils laying upon a pile of skeleton bodies. "Naruto?" He hears Sakura whisper softly.

"Sakura? Sakura!" He shouts and charges towards the table upon which his friend and team-mate is strapped too.

"Where's Sasuke?" He asks after using the sickle to cut through the leather straps. He flinches at the sight of metal spikes, likely silver, coming out as he rips those straps off of the weretiger.

"He... they... Oh Naruto!" Sakura weeps, her body moving as he begins to Heal the injuries the spikes left upon the red head.

"How long ago?" He asks, his throat tight. He glances around for any signs of the half-devil's body.

"He expired yesterday, I think it was yesterday..." Sakura trails off. "Analoss, it... she mentioned that time does odd things here... It's why she brought this keep here..."

"Sasuke? You here, right?" He asks after a few minutes after Sakura enters into a fitful sleep.

"I'm going to try an Reincarnate you, understood? I need you to be willing for this to work." He says within the chamber.

He moves away from Sakura once he places Den next to her. He walks over to the pile of bodies and finds Sasuke's broken body a bit behind the older bodies. He closes his eyes, brushing a few tears from his eyes.

As he finishes his spell casting, he watches as the body glows softly and a golden glow seems to hover over the dead body. The glow begins to take a shape and when the glow retreats, he finds himself looking at a Liondrake with crimson eyes. The dragon relative yowls and shakes his head.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Sasuke." He says to the scaly feline with bat like wings. The magical beast gives him a scratching look before moving pass him, heading to where Sakura lies upon the table with Den curled up next to her.

Sasuke yowls softly at the sight after drawing his upper body to leer over the resting fighter. "She'll be alright?" The Liondrake that is Sasuke asks after a few minutes.

"She'll be better if we can leave this chamber." He adds and his reincarnated team-mate nods after a few seconds. He watches as Sasuke moves to the closed door and before he could say anything, he watches as Sasuke takes his anguish and rage out on the door.

He shakes his head as he picks Sakura up bridal style with Den resting upon Sakura's stomach. Sasuke stalks out of the chamber, he already had an idea of where their stuff is as he follows Sasuke through the holding part of the dungeon. He's not really cut out to keep carrying her around.

"Any idea how to return me to my incarnation?" Sasuke asks him after destroying the other door, the one that takes them up out of the dungeon and into the garden. He grunts softly as he tries to renew his hold upon the woman in his arms.

"We wish you back into your previous incarnation." He says and the Liondrake gives him a minor glare. "Don't worry! I found a small collection of wish scrolls here at this keep." He adds and the Liondrake just shakes his head.

"It better..." Sasuke growls in reply. Sasuke stops and he can hear the rogue sniff around, it seems that the current Liondrake is looking for the switch to open the door. He's more then a little relieved to find that Sasuke's skills were still there as he hears the door open up.

He's more then happy to see the greenery of the garden and once he's pass the hidden door, the door closes behind him. He settles Sakura down on the ground and begins to stretch his arms. Sasuke moves to rest next to the weretiger but doesn't seems incline to rest.

"So, how does it feel to be something other then a half-fiend?" He asks Sasuke with a slight grin as he rummages through his satchel for one of those wishing scrolls. He hears the Liondrake growl slightly.

"You're so happy about this, aren't you? I refused to allow you to shape-shift me into some animal and now here I am, a beast!" Sasuke growls and glares at him.

"Oh please, give those wings a try before forming any judgments about this particular form." He retorts to the current Liondrake rogue. He takes the scroll out of the glass case without glancing up at the reincarnated rogue.

"They don't work... do they?" Sasuke asks as he slides a finger through the wax seal. He glances up as Sasuke spreads his wing a bit and continues to watch as Sasuke moves them about.

"How many times have you seen me take to the air as a bird or bat?" He asks the rogue. "I'll admit that Liondrakes aren't strong fliers but they can fly." He adds.

Then a shadow descends from the sky...

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	39. Arc 2: Chapter 20

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

"I really wish that we had more then members for this party..." He says as the undead golden dragon comes down into the garden. "Ouch!" He says as he let's go of the scroll but pales as he watches the scroll burn up.

_Oh hell!_ He couldn't help but think as the wishing scroll becomes ashes. He glances up at the slowly descending golden husk of a gold dragon, wondering just how that wish will be granted and if help will arrive before they're burnt to a crisp.

"Den, you ready?" He asks the otter and Den gives a short thrill of a scream but the river dog does approach him. The otter didn't look happy but he could feel a sliver of resolve within his animal companion's being.

The otter glows and within seconds, a massive dire bear now stands before him. The transformed otter turns to the dragon and let's loose a mighty roar of challenge while standing up right. Massive paws slash through the air before Den falls forward.

"Thanks Den." He says softly as the undead dragon seems to glare more heated down at them. He glances over to Sasuke, he could tell that the rogue wasn't in any shape for this coming battle as he holds his shield and the sickle before him.

"Stay with Sakura, Sasuke. I don't think you're powerful enough to last for very long in this coming battle." He says to the reincarnated liondrake.

Sasuke gives him a mix look that seems to show anger, fear, pity, and thanks. "I'll move Sakura." Sasuke says softly as he turns away from his friend and team-mate, just nodding.

He moves to stand next to Den, heart thumping quickly within his chest as the undead dragon shaped **"Pathetic mortals... It seems that I was too lenient when I tortured you."** The golden husk says with a large dose of disgust coloring this beast's tone.

"At least we're not pathetic enough to take the path of the undead, drake!" He snaps at the thing animated by fire and soul. "You are as an abomination as a Dracoliche!" He bellows loudly, as if doing so would cause his fear and sense of dread within from consuming him.

**"You DARE?! You dare to compare I to... to...."** Rage seems to become so great that the golden husk just roars in the end.

He couldn't help but wince as the undead golden dragon lands in the center of the garden and ducks behind a tree as the dragon breaths fire. He can only hope that Den had ducked behind something as fire and smoke obscure his sight.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

The light that had engulfed them finally fades to reveal them in a hallway of some kind. "What the heck was that?!" A voice cries out, a voice that sounds familiar and one that he hadn't heard since this exam began.

"Kiba?" He hears Choji, another voice he hadn't heard in a while, calls out. He's not sure if he believes his ears and so he summons an orb of light to clearly reveal the hallway and the others.

"What are they doing here?" He hears Ino demand at the sight of Gaara and the other two members from Hidden Sand. He's a bit surprised to find that Ino's a Githzerai, Shikamaru a Satyr, and Choji a Centaur.

"We were told by some huge head to met up with Neji and them." Temari says in their defense while he takes in the sight of the others, glad to see that his cousin was fine. "Where are we?" The humanoid bird wonders after a few seconds of silence.

Then a mighty roar seems to echo through the hallway that they found themselves in. "That doesn't sound good." Tenten says and he felt a shiver go down his back.

"That sounds like some kind of dragon..." He says as he glances down the ramp. "It came from down there..." He adds.

"Yosh! What are we waiting for! Let's go!" Lee shouts before the monk bolts down the hallway, heading for the place where the roar originate from.

"Lee! Wait!" Tenten shouts as the half-elf ranger takes off after the Dragonborn. Choji, Kiba, and Gaara soon join Tenten in running after Lee.

"Well, what are we waiting for? A written invitation?" Ino asks in a huff before she, too, begins to jog to join them.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru says as they all finally jog to investigate the roar. _Let's just hope we'll discover who summoned us here..._

)**-o-**(

**Naruto**

"Yosh! Begone you Hollow fiend!" He hears Lee shout as he does what he can to heal Den's injuries while the transformed otter is trying to bite through the golden scales about the arm.

"Lee?" He wonders as he glances to the side to find a massive Dragonborn standing near the entrance leading into the keep. As he watches, the scaly humanoid launches himself at the golden husk of a dragon.

The undead dragon just growls and tries to fling Den into Lee. With a shake of his head, he finally has time to dig around to take out the needed spell components to cast Sunburst. It's the most effective spell he has to battle against the undead, he just hopes that this... Hollow dragon as Lee names the thing.

The globe of Sunburst hits the Hollow dragon in the side, close to one of the glowing spots between the scales. Seconds later Magic Missiles slam into the Hollow dragon's neck. Stones bounce harmlessly off of the scaly body while Lee and Den back up away from the Hollow dragon.

"Nice spell, Naruto. I never pictured you as a druid." Ino's voice rings out as an arrow flies towards the massive head of the Hollow dragon.

"Where's Sakura and Sasuke?" He hears Choji ask after something thunders through the ashes of burnt plants. He is a bit surprised to see his usually massive friend as a Centaur.

"Sasuke's dragging Sakura to safety." He explains as he focuses on trying to command the roots to wrap themselves around the Hollow dragon's limbs as a group of tanks move in to engage the Hollow dragon head on. "Sasuke's currently a Liondrake, just a minor heads up on that one." He adds as he energizes the plants so they can grow more and longer roots to entangle the limbs of the dragon.

More spells hit the golden husk of the Hollow dragon as Choji fires off a few rounds of arrows. He's more then a bit confused when he spots a white furred feline man and a humanoid raven/crow. _What's the team from Sand doing here?_ He wonders as he begins to cast Sunburst once more as the Hollow dragon sets more of the plants with the garden on fire.

Suddenly he feels much better as the spell flies into the tail of the Hollow dragon. He glances around the gardens and spots Hinata among the group of spell casters. He grins lopsidedly before moving to heal those about the front of the golden husk. He's glad to see that Den is doing well while fighting along side of Akamaru and Kiba.

"Trust you to end up with a dire bear." Kiba remarks while the hound looking fighter casts a spell, causing him to realize that Kiba must have chosen something other then a fighter for his class. Den turns to look at him, the current she-bear seems more then happy to see him.

"Seems you found some friend, eh Den?" He says as he strokes the transformed otter's shoulder. Den grunts and huffs softly, moving to butt her head to his chest.

He scratches behind Den's ears for a few before giving Akamaru a thoughtful look. "Hey Akamaru? You minded if I give you a boost?" He asks the Blink Dog and the dog gives him a startled look before arfing with a tail wagging.

One Animal Growth later and Akamaru leaps forward with Den lumbering after. He brings up the rear with Kiba. "Thanks." Kiba says as Akamaru leaps to bite down upon one of those tentacle things that hang from the chin. The Hollow dragon tries to raise its head but something seems to be keeping the dragon laying low to the ground.

Without a moment's haste, he goes for the face of the shell of dragon. Upon the forehead of the Hollow dragon, he begins to focus upon the ground under the dragon. The ground becomes mud right under the belly.

"Get back!" He bellows as more and more of the ground under the dragon becomes mud. He feels Den obey without haste and the magical haze that happens when spells hit their marks, seem to ease up a bit. He feels the Hollow dragon try to fight the sinking but he could feel just how weak the thing had become after flinging its magical breath about and from the increased leaking of its inner fire.

He lets go of the spell and within seconds, the mud becomes stone once more and he sighs. _I wonder who summoned the water?_ He wonders as he glances at the group of spell casters.

"Is it dead?" Kiba asks after he walks over to join the main group of heavy hitters. He places a hand upon Den's head and within seconds, Den reverts back to her sleek, muscular form.

"What the hell?! What did you do?!" Exclaims Ino and he blinks as he picks up Den, the otter easily moves to rest upon his shoulders.

"This is what Den is suppose to look like. She's a river otter. I'm just glad she doesn't mind becoming other animals when we're in battle." He explains. _A recent tactic to be sure, but a successful one._

"That's got to be useful considering her small size." Shino muses and he gives the gnome a bemused look. "I do not recall meeting a druid who uses that spell like that."

"She's so cute!" Tenten coos at the otter and he feels Den's smugness. It wasn't long before Tenten is scratching Den under her chin.

"Where's Sasuke and Sakura?" Ino finally asks and he watches as Sasuke steps out from the hallway. He senses the others follow his gaze and shakes his head as Ino charges towards the liondrake.

"Sasuke! What happened to you?" The scaly sorceress exclaims.

"He died and I reincarnated him." He explains while Ino kneels down to hug the liondrake about his neck. Though he's pretty sure that Ino didn't hear a word he said.

"How do you plan to return him to normal?" Hinata asks and he sighs. It doesn't take much for him to bring out another wish scroll that's within a glass case.

"It seems the last one was used summoning you guys." He admits as Neji takes the case and scroll within from him. "Found them in yonder tower." He adds, jerking his head towards the tower that's to the south of their position.

"There's a bunch of people under a spell sleeping up there too. No clue why but they're there." He continues as he heads to where Ino and Sasuke are.

He notices that a few hung around the parts of the Hollow dragon that is still above the stone, having escaped being encased in stone. Even from where he is, he could feel the soul and fire that's within that golden shell. He wonders what plans those four have planned for the Hollow dragon.

"I wish Sasuke Uchiha back to his previous incarnation before the druid Naruto reincarnated him." Neji says when Ino finally lets go of Sasuke's neck. He watches as Sasuke current body begins to glow slightly before the body of the liondrake is transformed into that of a half-fiend, a naked one at that.

An illusion shimmers into existence to cover Sasuke's nude body. He glances over to Shikamaru but the satyr just glance beyond where Sasuke is, to the resting form of Sakura. He sighs, wondering how long it'll be for her to wake.

"Yo, blondie, what's up with the sky?" The tigerman asks and he glances over to the berobed being. "It's... well, not right, if you get my drift."

"Oh?" He muses as he turns to look up. "Well, that's to be expected considering there this bit of island is. I mean, we were traveling through the Astral Sea."

"We're where?!" Most of those summoned exclaim loudly. He blinks as he glances around those near him while calming Den down.

"Well, to keep it short, Sakura won a dimensional ship and after repairing it, we tried to sail it to the meeting point." He explains. "We ran into a spot of trouble concerning some giant tail and ended up running aground on this bit of floating land with this keep on it." He says.

"And of course the dobe manages to waste his magic upon the ship and ended up needing to rest. Of course if we had known about how time flowed in here when somebody slept, we would have just forced him to take a potion." Sasuke muses sourly.

"I doubt it would have made much difference when that husk came a calling." He couldn't help but remark. "Besides, things worked out in the end. We got a dragon hoard to loot and what treasure was in that beast that was blasted to kingdom come."

"It had loot in it?" Sasuke asks while the others were recovering from revaluation of they currently were. _Or maybe at the thought of what kind of treasure is within the hoard..._

"Any idea where the treasure room is?" The humanoid raven/crow asks. It takes him a few minutes to realize that not only is this being a Kenku but also female.

"Ah, I would assume pass the ballroom that this hallway leads to. But there might be traps so we should wait for those guys to finish whatever it is they're doing with the Hollow dragon." He says after a few minutes of remember which part of the keep he's visited while trying to locate Sasuke and Sakura.

)**-o-**(

**Neji**

_Well, that was profitable._ He couldn't help but think as he exits out of the room that had contained tons upon tons of spell ingredients. Most of the other magic users were hunting about in either the library or the treasure room.

Although to be fair, Naruto and Hinata had left with Sakura to the ship. He's pretty certain that Naruto is likely nosing around the corpse, looking for slightly melted goods be they items like swords and shields to coins. He hears Den chirp softly, signaling that Tenten isn't far behind since Den had decided to stick around, much to Tenten's delight.

"Looks like you hit a rather good find." Tenten notes as he exits out of the hidden room. It closes up as soon as he's out of it.

"It was jammed pack with spell ingredients." He states calmly while the otter encircles his boots. "How fairs the deciding who gets what magical item or bit of treasure?" He asks the ranger.

"They've decided to resolve it by rolling dice. The one with the higher roll of three dice wins the item." Tenten says.

"No luck with locating a different armory?" He asks the half-elf and Tenten sighs, nodding. "Nothing hidden away in the storerooms or servant quarters?"

"Nothing but those enchanted arms that are part of the Hollow dragon's hoard." Tenten says. "I'm almost wishing we hadn't promised Naruto we would not search in that one tower in search of treasure and what not."

He doesn't say anything as they head into the large ballroom. Den races forward, heading straight for the minor pool that the artificial waterfall falls into. Most of them had admitted that it's a beautiful sight.

"Think Shino's finished with bonding with that beetle of his?" Tenten asks as she trails the tip of her finger over the water's surface, causing minor ripples to be created. He didn't have much of an opinion concerning his fellow magic user's choice in familiars.

After all, Kankuro is trying to win the trust of that vampire weasel of his. _Though what possessed him to call that thing Gimu I'll never know._ He thinks as he watches Den swim about in the pool. _Not that Naruto's any better at names... It's likely a good thing Dart came with his own name._

"I wonder if there will be any room for all of us upon this ship of theirs." He says to Tenten after a few minutes of silence. He's glancing down the wide hallway that leads out into the keep's inner courtyard.

They had found a smear of blood upon the building project. It seems as though the Hollow dragon had killed the devil before taking to the air to fly to the gardens to confront Naruto's group. They could only wonder if the devil had returned to its hell plane or not upon its 'death'.

"Naruto and Sasuke seem pretty sure that there is." Tenten replies. "We don't really have much of a reason to doubt them."

"I highly doubt it's as big as they've lead us to believe. It's only an Astral Skiff. Those are the smallest and weakest of the plane traveling ships." He says as Den pops her head not far from where he's standing.

The otter chatters at them for a few minutes before diving once more into the four foot deep pool. He did briefly wonder if Naruto was watching them through Den's eyes and listening through Den's ears. He dismisses it because whatever connection Naruto has with Den, it likely by its very nature, not the same as what Shino is trying to achieve with that lightning beetle or what Kankuro wants to achieve with that vampire animal that Gaara had gifted him.

_Would Tenten be able to have the same kind of relationship that Naruto has with Den?_ He wonders as he notices the look upon Tenten's face as she watches Den. "You've been wanting something like what Naruto has, haven't you?" He asks, finally realizing why Tenten has become so fond of all of those transmuted creatures he had created out of inanimate items.

"Would be nice to have one around." Tenten admits, glancing at him for a few seconds. "They're great for scouting and in battle. Although I hadn't been able to attract anything other then a wolf or a lynx when I try my hand at it."

"What would be wrong with a wolf or a lynx? They sound as though they would suit you." He says. _Just as something playful suits Naruto._

"I wanted something smaller, something that could sneak around, be mistaken as a odd pet. Wolves and lynxes stand out in town, they also advertise my profession." Tenten says as Den with one mighty leap, exits out of the pool.

Den begins to groom herself as he chews on Tenten's statements. Minutes pass by and yet, he finds that he can't understand Tenten's reasons for forgoing a companion simply because the ones that come weren't want she was looking for. _She's never this finicky unless it's about weapons or armor._ He muses, baffled before leaving it be.

_Must be part of the mystery that is women._ He decides.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	40. Arc 2: Chapter 21

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Naruto**

Hinata barks and he stops digging at a spot of melted metal to look over to where the transformed priestess is standing. With a sharp bark, he trots over to where Hinata is and finds another dragon statue similar to the polished white one only made out of emerald colored metal. He wags his tail at the find and within seconds, returns to his typical form. that of a shifter.

He digs around for the white dragon statue and finds that the two do fit. The space between the heads make it seems as though some gem stone should be set there. He finds a rather large thing of melted metal and sets the two statues together before shape shifting back into the form of a wolf to continue searching through the mess of organic and in-organic.

He does pause as he feels something coming from Den. With a full body shake, he continues digging at the spot he had when Hinata called for him. Upon uncovering the lump of metal, he picks it up and takes it to add it to the pile where he's putting such things.

As he moves to pull out a spear that seems to be made out of ivory when he hears a certain someone scream out his name. He whines softly while tucking his tail between his legs as the shout echos a bit through this island space.

"**NARUTO**! What have you done to my ship?!" Sakura shouts at the top of her lungs.

_I wonder if she's on her way over here in her beast form?_ He wonders while slowly backing away while trying to keep his ears from flattening against his skull. _I wonder if I start running now, she'll calm down chasing me?_

_She really needs to manage her anger better. It might have been wiser not to make her a weretiger either... Or maybe I should have put her down as a barbarian, she has the right temperament to pull it off._ He thinks as he turns and begins to race to the group of huts.

A roar echos somewhere behind, signaling that Sakura is indeed coming for him in her more beastly state. His paws create a rhythm thud sound while his mouth is open, allowing his tongue to hang out. _I really should shift into something with wings, if only to get out of her reach._

-)**T**(-

_How is it that I'm the one in the 'tree'?_ He wonders while watches Sakura paces before the floating mini islands that are hanging about the edge of the floating bit of land that the keep is resting upon. _At least this bit of land hasn't floated away..._

Every so often the tiger that is his team-mate would stop and roar up at him, complete with rearing up and slashing downwards with the forelimbs. Sakura's tail continues to whip back and forth behind the fighter's behind. Emerald eyes glint brightly whenever Sakura glances up at him.

Sakura had tried to climb the 'stair' case of mini floating islands to get to him. _Just how did I climb up here?_ He wonders while laying down upon the broad flat floating island, trying to recall how did managed to be so lucky as to climb up to this particular bit of floating island.

He huffs softly as Sakura finally sits down and gazes up at him. He feels his ears flicker backwards, making a sort of V. _What is she planning to do?_ He wonders while watching as Sakura seems to be working something out, it causes his fur to raise as Sakura seems to have calmed down but not enough to try and talk to him.

_She wouldn't so something stupid, would she?_ He wonders, suddenly alarmed by the thought of losing Sakura viva her leaping off this island keep.

Sakura finally gets up and begins to tense up. The tip of the weretiger's tail is flickering around.

_She would._ He sums up as he watches Sakura leap onto a passing floating island and then quickly leaps onto another one as the first wouldn't hold Sakura's weight.

He sits up and tenses as Sakura's bit of land encircles the one he's on. Sakura's bit of island moves around fairly quickly, causing Sakura to pass before him about five times before his own island is facing the vast space that is beyond the island they landed upon.

_This is so not going to end well..._ He thinks as he watches as Sakura manages to leap frog upon three islands and upon trying for the fourth, the weretiger slips and falls down to the ground, very close to the edge of the island.

After a few seconds, Sakura shifts into her hybrid form and then into her human one. He sighs as his red haired team-mate seems to be fine. Sakura seems annoyed but otherwise calm and collected.

"Get down here and explain what you did to the ship." Sakura states in a flat tone.

He sighs and glances around the various little floating mini islands that were circling his position. He whines after a few minutes of studying them to try and make out a pattern to the rotation of the mini floating bits of ground.

With a frown, he concentrated on shape shifting into the familiar form of an owl, it's the one he prefers to take when he is on night sentry duty. Stretching out his wings, he kind of waddles to the edge and flies down to the ground. He transforms back to his natural state upon landing.

"The ship." Sakura reminds him, her green eyes pinning him to the spot, as if daring him to move.

"Well, let's see. As I recall, I was in this dreamscape that featured a wooden skeleton of a whale. Pretty much every bone of this whale didn't seem to fit with any of the others, so I caused a root mesh to grow and bind them more firmly together." He explains.

"Then somehow, there's two of me, the rakshasa fighter and the razorclaw shifter druid. The Rakshasa began to work with the spell structure of the ship while the shifter kept wiping away oozing blood from the statues belonging to Sasuke, Den, and you yourself." He continues to explain, still finding that duplicity to be kind of freaky, but he easily puts the blame for such a thing occurring because of that item he crafted when he created the latest character sheet.

"When the rakshasa finished with the spells, the shifter then placed it within the chest of the whale. Then the whale began to undergo a mighty transformation by growing muscle and skin, I fainted when I fell down, the whale caught me on its head though." He finishes and Sakura just keeps staring at him, as if expecting him to have lied about this.

"You're not on drugs are you?" Sakura asks and he snorts while shaking his head.

"If I were, wouldn't you be able to sniff them out?" He points out and Sakura just shakes her head.

"Fine, whatever." Sakura says and turns to begin walking back to the ship, instead of asking him to transform them both into birds so they can return sooner. _I wonder if Sasuke's reaction can't be any more violent then Sakura's._ He decides as he follows after upon transforming into a war horse and offering Sakura a lift.

His team-mate studies him for a few seconds before finally just sighing and getting onto his bareback, which kind of surprised him since they've never accepted such an offer before. _Must be still recovering._ He decides as he trots back to the ship with Sakura riding upon his back.

)**-o-**(

**Hinata**

She couldn't help but cock her head this way and that as she studies this gem that has suddenly appeared between those two interconnected dragon statues. If she had hands, she would have been either scratching the side of her head or picking the gem up to be sure that its real and not some type of illusion.

It had been a while since Sakura chased after Naruto in the form of a tiger. She had worried that Sakura might have done something to the druid when the enraged fighter finally manages to catch Naruto, but prefers to believe that Naruto had taken to the skies to stay out of Sakura's reach until the usual pink haired teen calms down.

With a huff, she glances away from the two statues to return to plundering what metal lumps she can find and dig up. She hadn't expected to find so much metal within a living being before but this monster certainly carried a few kingdoms' worth of gold, silver, and other rare bits of treasure.

As she digs up her fourteenth lump of metal after studying the two statues, she catches whiff of something and glances off into the direction the wind is blowing in from. A few seconds tick by and she finally spots something large coming towards her.

_Is Sakura riding Naruto?_ She couldn't help but think with her jaws open wide at the sight. She finally recovers and barks a bit, causing the rather large horse to whinny in reply upon perking up.

Sakura gets off and within seconds, the horse becomes a wolf. The shape shifted druid comes racing towards her with ears perked right up and tail held straight out behind him.

Naruto gets within a three feet of her before giving her a questioning look. She arfs slightly and moves to where the two dragon statues were resting so she can show them to Naruto.

The druid noses the gem before nudging them onto the side, which causes the gem stone to roll out of its spot between the two heads. She moves to right the statues as best as she can while Naruto examines the now red gem stone.

She watches as Naruto give it a minor bite but it remains whole. Naruto makes a questioning noise for a few seconds before just doing a wolf shrug. She sighs and moves back to the spot where she had been digging when she spotted the pair.

She did note that Sakura seems to be bent down and examining something, like a pile of fused coins or fused lump of metal that includes more then one type of metal. As she manages to dig up her latest find, she finds Sakura next to the dragon statues but since the red head wasn't touching them, she ignored the weretiger as she walks pass to place what's in her mouth onto her pile of recovered items and melted metal lumps.

She's about to start digging when she felt numb, within seconds, she stands tall and glances over to where Naruto was. "Break!" Naruto says cheerfully and it's then does she realize how thirsty she is.

"Why are you going through so much trouble for this junk? I get recovering the non-damaged items like those statues, but you're taking things that are pretty much mutt lumps." Sakura points down as they sit next to the rather large lump of metal.

"It's not as though you need to take any of it, if that's how you feel about it." She couldn't help but remark in a calm tone. She had grown considerably since they found themselves in this game world once more.

Sakura gives her a startled look while Naruto nods in agreement with her sentiment. "Whatever that gigantic monster was, it didn't seem to discriminate between organic and in-organic matter. I'm kind of surprised at how big these metal lumps can be." Naruto says.

"Take this one here, for example. I bet part of this was a table once upon a time, now look at it! It's got bits of copper and silver fused upon its surface. Who knows? With the right spells, somebody might be able to unfuse these metals from each other." The blond druid points out.

"Most of this stuff are coins, typically gold ones at that. At least that's what I've come to conclude upon." She says and Naruto nods in agreement.

"It's not as if people can't melt these golden lumps down and re-mint gold coins out of it." Naruto points out and Sakura just sighs.

"Well, I'll just leave you two to your collecting then. I got to re-familiarize myself with the ship." Sakura says and wraps her food stuff before marching off.

"Hey! Check it out! There's another gem stone between those two dragons' heads!" Naruto remarks as they finish up their receptive meals.

She glances at the two statues and found her crush to be right. It took her a second to located the previous gem that had been resting between the two heads. She reaches forward and takes the colorless gem stone from its setting, only for it to bleed red, becoming the twin of the previous gem stone.

"Anyway, why don't we separate the two, you take the one you found and I'll take the one I found. We can figure out how they do that back on the ship." Naruto suggests as they watch the eyes of the two dragon statues begin to light up.

She takes the emerald green dragon while Naruto takes the white dragon. She puts the statue and the ruby she is holding into the satchel before getting up to begin packing away her pile. About a one third of her pile remains when Naruto announced that the group still in the keep are returning to the ship.

"I guess we'll be going soon." She muses and Naruto nods. "I wonder what they plundered from that dragon's treasury?" She adds.

"I'm sure they'll be eager to tell us when they arrive." Naruto says as the blond druid begins to continue packing stuff into his satchel. She follows suit, hoping that they finish before the others get here.

)**-o-**(

**Anko**

"We believe we have located where those teams vanished to." One of the Chuunin assigned to work the ghost shift while the festival is going on. She motions for the Chuunin to continue.

"Somehow, Naruto managed to activate the special nature of his crafted item. We know that they were confronting something in the Astral Planes before they slipped out of our sight." The Chuunin says.

"Well, it seems that our vanished teams have hooked up with Kakashi's team. They have come across some kind of keep floating in the Astral Plane. We missed out on how they managed to capture this golden hollow dragon but the group is now returning to their ship." The Chuunin continues.

"We have visual sightings of all but Hinata, Naruto, and Sakura. Although from what brief chatter I over heard before being sent, it seems that those three had returned to the ship. That Sakura had been tormented and is exhausted from it. Hinata and Naruto had volunteered to take Sakura back to the ship, likely out of harms way just in case the captive hollow dragon manages to slip its bindings." The Chuunin reports.

"We're unsure if we'll continue to have visual contact with this group once they depart from this floating island." The Chuunin finishes.

She thinks upon this for a few seconds before reaching a decision. "Set up the capture field. I would say that they've match the goal of this examine now that they have access to a dimensional ship." She says and the Chuunin just nods, with that, the man slips away, heading off to carry out her orders.

_Impressive. I do have to wonder just how Kakashi's brats managed to summon those teams?_ She wonders as she sips her elven wine.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	41. Arc 2: Chapter 22

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Neji**

"What's up with this ship? It looks... is it... alive?" Ino wonders as they get within sight of the ship that Sakura owns.

He glances over at Sasuke and finds the rogue to be stunned at the ship, which clues him in that the ship has undergone changes since Sasuke had seen it. "Hey you guys!" And he glances to the right to find Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura were walking in from the burn site.

"What did you do to the ship?! It looks like a living moss heap!" Ino explodes and he's incline to agree with Ino on this subject.

The ship causes his skin to crawl and his teeth on edge. "I refuse to go a step further towards it." The white furred Rakshasa states with flatten ears. _Likely because it's filled with primal energies... Even Shino doesn't seem thrilled about this ship._

The beetle familiar of Shino's is sparkling, clearly showing Shino's emotions. "Huh... I thought my previous incarnation infused the Arcane magic with what my current incarnation did concerning primal energies within the wood..." Naruto admits as Den moves to rest by the blond shifter's feet.

"I don't have a problem with the ship." Kiba says and Hinata nods in agreement. "Anyone else feel like they're uncomfortable with traveling on this ship?" The paladin asks.

He isn't the only one who glances over at Shikamaru, after all, Shikamaru is a bard and thus a capable spell user. The satyr just sighs while muttering his catch phase, "Troublesome."

"At least check out the cabin. It's... interesting." Sakura says. "Unless you plan to wait here for another Astral ship since my ship isn't good enough for you." The weretiger spats with anger with hands upon her hip and eyes regarded them coolly.

"Don't knock it till you try it." Naruto adds and he glances at the blond druid. With a rolling of his eyes, Naruto suddenly shape shifts into an otter and moves to climb the ladder with Den following Naruto's example.

"I don't think I can climb up there." Choji remarks and Sakura glances over at the ranger before sighing. "I guess we could create a harass out of rope..." The fighter admits after studying Choji for a few minutes.

Suddenly the side of the ship seem to shimmer before the mesh of boards glow in bright green with a ring of brown. With a frown at the lot of them, Gaara is the first to approach the glowing circle and vanishes into the shimmering green. "How... odd." The second fighter of them says.

In the end, they all walk right into the green portal that leads right into the ship. As soon as he's within the hall, that creepy feeling seems to vanish. The glowing veins that seem to act as lights pulse with Arcane magic.

Kankuro doesn't look too relieved about being within the ship. _At least the ship hasn't attacked him yet. Wonder how long till that changes, after all, Kankuro's familiar is a vampire stout._ He thinks as the glowing portal that allowed them to enter within the ship vanishes, not that anyone seems to notice it as they're more interested in claiming unoccupied rooms.

It's fairly easy to pick out which rooms are occupied as they generally have what appears to be their coat of arms. He had raised an eyebrow at that but then, he had created his own mark to stamp as it were upon the items he's created. It consists of a book in the back ground, a shard crossed with a wand in front of the book, and its all done out in silver.

He knew what Kankuro's mark is, it's hard not too since they've been traveling together for a while now. The profile of a white animal skull with black six and five point stars encircling the white skull. A gray tear is featured at the bottom of the encircling stars.

"What's with the crest?" He hears Kiba asks after sniffing the air upon getting close to the door featuring a field of black with a brown vulture perched upon a bony white arm, along the straight edge of the vertical sides were white skulls with four pointed stars between the human skulls. He's incline to believe its Sasuke's crest since its so morbid.

"Some peopled thought it would be 'neat' for us to sport our person coat of arms." Sasuke explains while, ironically or not, looking at Sakura. Naruto has yet to re-join the group after all.

"I don't recall forcing you to pick a vulture for it." Sakura remarks in her defense. "Nor do I recall Naruto pushing you to pick an animal after you decided upon using bones as part of your coat of arms." The weretiger adds and Sasuke sends a dirty look at Sakura.

"Why are you arguing with Sasuke!" Ino shouts and Sakura blinks as she turns to look at Ino. "It's like Naruto rubbed off on you!" Ino adds and Sasuke snorts softly with a very light smirk upon his face as Sakura looks puzzled before rolling her eyes at Ino.

"I'd love to see how you'd treat him after spending a whole year in his company." Sakura says with a weary smile upon her face. "He's not the easiest person to live with and he gets grumpy about the smallest things. He's got a lot of strange quirks when you get to know him."

Sasuke retorts, "How about I start listing your quirks in turn? I mean, in some areas you make Naruto look normal and he's always lived alone." The currently red skinned half-fiend rogue has his own hands upon his hip with a wide smirk upon his face.

The two face off against each other, clearly forgetting that they are even there. _Makes one feel as though they're intruding upon their special moment._ He muses while glancing between the two.

And then, just as one of them was about to speak, a panther leaps down into the hallway and roars before transforming into Naruto. "How the heck did you lot get here?! You know how worried I was? I couldn't find you even from the cabin!" The druid shouts, pointing an accusatory finger at them all.

Sakura and Sasuke stop their staring contest to look at the blond before glancing at them, suddenly aware that they are there. "Anyway, just pick a room. I'm sure there are plenty of them as this is only the first floor of quarters. There seems to be at least six floors before cargo stores begin." Sakura tells them and with that, everyone other then team seven move about.

It didn't take long for him to find a room on the third floor. After a few seconds, he takes out a sheet of blank paper and draws his mark upon the sheet in silver ink. Once done, he opens the door of his new quarters and casts a simple sticking spell upon the back of the sheet before putting it upon the door. He stiffens as he watches as the door suddenly engulfs the sheet but leaves the image in silver ink alone.

After probing the door a few times, he just gives it up and heads back into his room to change his cloths. Once done, he heads up the stairs. It wasn't long until he came to a door and upon opening it, discovered the final flight of stairs.

He walks up them but stiffens at the last few when he spots a rather odd chair. Arcane magic and primal energies converge most strongly within this space. The hum of the two causes him to have goosebumps.

"You going to move or become a statue?" He hears Temari ask him. He climbs the last stairs and gets a clear view of Naruto and Sasuke out on the deck of the ship. It seems as though the two were just picking up discarded junk that has landed upon the deck from Astral Plane.

"I didn't know magic could make something like this..." Temari says and he recalls what Naruto had said about his two 'incarnations' working to create this.

"It's not just magic that contribute to this, the energies a druid uses too. This ship... It's a hybrid of the two." He explains as he moves to one of the windows. "During the previous time we were here, Naruto was a black furred Rakshasa. That race are natural sorcerers, although Naruto had been a fighter instead of a magic user, it seems as though Naruto recalls how to work with that sort of energy."

"Do you retain anything from your time as a rogue? Could you duplicate any of a rogue's skills from just memory?" The Kenku asks him and he sighs, shaking his head, after all, he had tried to but just didn't have the reactions as he is to pull any of them off successfully on the fly. With training, yes, but otherwise, no.

"I'm not even sure how it works. Not all that different then before, I'll admit..." Sakura says.

"Just how did Naruto transform this ship?" He asks Sakura while Ino, Shikamaru, Gaara, and Hinata follow her up. "He's a druid, after all."

"Well, truth be told, we never got the chance to ask him." Sakura says sheepishly. "He went off to bed after we landed here."

Suddenly they can hear Sasuke's voice rings out, "Your pet!" It wasn't long before Naruto shouts, "She's not a pet!"

"I do not care! She brought me another dead... whatever it is! Keep that over grown weasel under control or so help me...!" Sasuke counters.

"Touch her and I'll shave you bald!" Naruto retorts. "And she's not a weasel! She's an otter! It seems as though your eye sight is failing, maybe we should find you a pair of glasses!"

Sakura just sighs, running a hand through her red hair. "Just ignore them, I know I try to, that's how they normally act." The weretiger tells them, it's unclear if Sasuke has replied to Naruto's last remark since if he did, the half-fiend didn't shout it like before.

The door opens and within seconds, Ino shouts, "NARUTO! Get in here and tell us what you did to the ship!" He glances towards the Githzerai as Ino stands at the door, he could see Naruto and Sasuke glancing towards the cabin.

Den is in Naruto's arms and seems to be content to be in Naruto's arms. "Eh? Why can't Sakura tell you?" The blond shifter asks.

"Cause we haven't discussed it yet!" Sakura shouts after standing behind Ino. "So stop fighting and finish cleaning!"

"Fine." The two say at the same time and in the same tone. Naruto kneels to put Den down upon the ground. "Guard Sakura, Den." Naruto says and the otter comes loping towards them.

The otter curls around Sakura's foot as the two finish gathering up and tossing overboard the debris. Sakura picks up Den before moving out of the doorway to allow Ino back in. More of the others arrive in the cabin by the time the other two members of team seven enter into the cabin, the door closes behind him.

"Where's Lee, Kiba, and Choji?" Tenten asks and Kankuro answers, "Sleeping."

"What is it you want to know?" Naruto asks as he takes Den from Sakura. Within seconds the otter moves to rest across Naruto's broad shoulders.

"How did you mix Arcane magic and primal magic together?" He asks and Naruto glances at him. "Sakura doesn't seem know how you did it." He adds.

"I thought I did... Oh well, it was a fairly busy time so there is a good chance I didn't." The druid admits. "Let's see... Well, I entered into a dreamscape."

He makes himself comfortable as Naruto tells his tale.

)**-o-**(

**Dart**

"I don't see why we even spent any time at that tower... I knew where the board was set up." He says as he flies ahead of the group consisting of the old man who serves as the Third Hokage and a bunch of masked ninja.

He didn't care if anyone answered him or not as he enters the clearing outside of the fenced area. He notices that the board seems covered in a protective shield, likely some animal tried to disturb the map and the board erected the shield as protection against said fictional beast.

He easily hovers over the shield. The ninja land at least seven feet away from the game board's shield, as if afraid that landing too close will cause something to happen. He just snorts, it's times like these that he wished Naruto was around as the blond listens to him and often acted upon his advice after they talk it over.

With a sigh, he moves to land upon the ground. _I can so go for some berries about now._ He thinks as he sits facing the game board, taking note that there were so few pieces upon it.

He ignores the murmuring conversation going on with the humans. He found that the local human population did tend to react like those back in that other dimension. True, they had different customs, traditions, and work with different energies but it doesn't seem to alter their typical drives, only how those drives are expressed.

Slowly, he begins to note that something has changed as the map goes blank. A mist of white slowly raises up from the brown map. The shield vanishes and the mist suddenly explodes outwards.

Within seconds, the number within the clear increase. "Man, what a way to travel." He hears a familiar voice comments.

"Naruto!" He shouts as he leaps into the air, flying over a few heads to tackle the blond to the ground. "Dart! Good to see you!" The blond says as Naruto gently hugs him around the neck.

"Lord Hokage sir, what a surprise!" A voice says, he looks up to find Anko addressing the old man wearing the triangle hat and red robes.

As the mist finally clears, a ship hangs over all of their heads. "Huh... makes sense, I guess. I mean, it does belong to Sakura." He hears Kiba say.

"Dart? Could I get up please?" Naruto asks him and he steps to the side to allow Naruto to sit up.

"So... did you bring me anything?" He asks while the other humans around them speak among themselves. He gives the young blond human his best puppy dog look.

"Let's see what I have in my new bag..." Naruto muses and he watches as the blond rummages about in his satchel. "Here you go." Naruto says upon taking out a bundle of leaves and the smell of honey berries cause him to drool.

As he opens the bundle, the crowd within the clearing begins to thin out. "It's been so long since I've eaten these..." He says as he licks his muzzle for berry stains.

"Then why don't you save a few and we'll try and grow some here." Naruto tells him in a bemused tone. "Shouldn't be too hard, I was a druid this time around." The blond adds.

"But you don't know if they'll take, right?" He asks and Naruto hums thoughtfully. "So, I could risk it and leave a few uneaten or I can ignore it and eat them all." He muses and Naruto just shakes his head ever so slightly.

"So... How did you guys win? I mean, I didn't see your pieces upon the map." He says as he begins to daintily pick at the next bundle of leaves that Naruto has produced after he consumed the first bundle.

"Let's see... I had just finished telling the group about how the ship became a hybrid of Arcane magic and primal energies." Naruto says and he pouts.

"What, you want me to start from the very beginning and spend hours upon hours of retelling our adventures..." Naruto says and he shakes his head furious, he wants to know the ending now, not later tonight. He also lies down upon the ground, ignoring the humans wearing masks that are gathering up the map and the pieces of the game.

- **[** - **(**

**Naruto**

Sakura is seated down in the command chair. "This is so weird..." The usually pink haired team-mate murmurs softly.

He's standing before one of the windows with Den upon his shoulders. "Are you sure you have to pilot it? Maybe you should have Naruto do it. After all, it's tied more deeply with Naruto then with you." Ino says to Sakura.

"It's my ship and I'll be the one to pilot it. It shouldn't be that hard." Sakura says and the ship jerks backwards.

Den tenses as the ship continues to jerk backwards and forwards. Then, as the ship backs out, it begins to shift to the right. Suddenly the ship jerks upwards until it jerks to a stop. _She's so nervous._

"Such a smooth ride so far." Temari remarks wearily, she likely beat Ino in saying that. He hears Sakura growls but the fighter doesn't say anything other then taking calming breathes.

The ship drifts a few seconds before Sakura tries again. As the ship raises up into the air, it also moves forward and to the left. The jerkiness remains as Sakura would jerk upon the 'wheel' at odd times.

They get at least a few miles away from the island before a beam of purple light engulfs the ship. Within seconds, it felt as though he's falling, that there wasn't a floor under him to stand upon. His stomach seems to be trying to escape out of his mouth as he's suddenly jerking hard to the right and backwards.

His vision swims and he feels Den's panic for a few seconds before their connection breaks. He felt suddenly alone and very naked. He knew that Den and him would part ways but this was just so sudden and so quick that it left him grasping at straws.

_I wish I could have said go bye before this happened..._ He thinks. Within seconds, he suddenly finds himself flying through the air until he finds himself landing upon something warm and kind of firm.

"Get. Off. Whoever. You. Are." Somebody tells him. He just groans as the dizziness remains, making it hard for him to comply.

He kept swallowing as the urge to vomit remains with him. It's hard as his breath keeps coming in shallow and quick. His stomach clearly wants to empty itself even though he's trying his best not to let it.

He's not sure how he got onto his back but the sudden change in position finally causes him to vomit. Through his pounding head, he hears somebody screech upon this action. He's too occupied by what's going on within him to care what's going on around him.

"Naruto!" He hears somebody shout and within seconds, he finally begins to feel much better as his stomach finally settles down. His headache subsides and his vision no longer blurs.

"Feeling better?" Hinata asks and he slowly nods. Hinata helps him get off the floor.

He gives Hinata a shaky smile as the others file out onto the deck of the ship. "What happened?!" Lee demands upon arriving from down below.

"I would say, we got abducted by someone welding powerful Arcane magics." He muses as the last members of the group arrive in the cabin, each looking rather bewildered at what they are seeing. He, too, doesn't know what to make of the welcoming party that's standing on the deck with Sakura and them already conversing.

"Hurry up you guys! There's a festival being held! After it's finished, we'll be officially passing the second exam!" Sakura shouts at them.

- **[** - **(**

"And we spent the last week partying before Anko officially pass us." Naruto finishes and he sighs. "Anyway, let's head to the apartment and we'll sort through the whole satchel together." The blond suggests.

"Sounds good!" He pipes in as he gets up off the ground. He's eager to see what new items Naruto brought home.

_-)_**Be Continued . . .**_(-_


	42. Arc 2: Chapter 23

**I don't own Naruto or Dungeon & Dragons.**

**- o 0 o -**

**Gaara**

He can not help but frown as he holds the necklace before him. It gently rotates back and forth, he can kind of hear the demon. Instead of being overwhelmingly loud, the voice of the Shukaku is a faint whisper and very easy to ignore.

He lets the pendent drop to his chest as he look out of the window of their hotel room. He's half tempted, oh so tempted, to give it a try to become a bat or to go into his hybrid form. He resists that temptation to rest as the previous day had been every eventful by the simple fact that not only are they out of that game, the invasion had been found out.

_Not as though I had much invested in the invasion other then continuing to prove my existence..._ He thinks to himself. Even now, he doesn't really have much of an investment in Hidden Sand, just in his recent relationship with his siblings.

He glances at the sword that leans against the wall and smiles slightly. He feels more confident in protecting himself using his own skills instead of relying totally upon his sand. _Nobody ever bothered to train me in any of the ninja arts, is it any wonder why the sand became my only weapon? My only shield?_

He then looks up into the sky, at the huge floating keep that, even kilometers in the sky, it is still rather large to his sight. Within its walls is a huge treasury that could allow Hidden Leaf to exist without accepting any mission ever again as the treasury will regenerate itself over time, ensuring that it's never empty. _It's not as if we haven't returned dirt poor like those failed teams._

He sighs softly and lies down upon his pad. As he begins to control his breathing, exhaustion slowly causes him to finally fall asleep. The demon totally unable to take over the newly improved Gaara.

)**-o-**(

**Anko**

She couldn't help but feel very satisfied with how everything played out upon returning to Hidden Leaf village. Not only did she witness the dead, true dead, of her hated teacher, but that keep she created followed them home and now, Hidden Leaf will never be lacking money unless something destroyed and disenchanted the magical castle that's floating many kilometers above the Hokage monument.

The treasury of the keep is safe from thief since there were very few who are capable of teleporting up to it and they are primarily Chuunins. She glances down at the spell book in her lap. She not only manage to take a few books out of the keep, she had plenty spell ingredients in three pouches about her person, each has the bag of holding enchantment upon them so they hold much more then what their size suggests.

The thought of magic brings to mind those observation orbs. _I wonder if we can get those to work here? In this dimension? If we could, we'd have an unbeatable spy net work._ She thinks with a smirk.

She snaps herself out of such thoughts to focus on memorizing as many spells as she can before exhaustion claims her.

)**-o-**(

**Dart**

"Do we have ta do this? Couldn't we just leave it in the keep up there? It's pretty secure up there..." He says to Naruto as they stand on top of the Fourth's head.

"Look, Dart, I'm not thrilled about this either but we do need to get rid of this game! It's just going to keep being used again and again. In time, the barrier between that collective universe will break down and begin mixing with this one." Naruto tells him.

"Just look up at that keep! It's one thing with that ship Sakura owns or you yourself, but that keep is a mighty piece of magic." The blond adds. "Besides, with that ship around, I'm pretty sure if we need to track this game down using that ship or using one of my wishing scrolls." The ninja adds.

He just sighs, it's clear that nothing he can say will change the demon container's mind. _I can't say that having it around won't cause trouble. It is a tool and like any tool, it can be used against us as much as it can aid us._

Slightly closing his eyes, he lends Naruto magic, after all, their relationship is much more stronger then a master and familiar relationship. Their bond is solely on friendship, even if it had begun as a life-debt with him owing Naruto his life.

A soft pop and the game vanishes from this dimension. With a hum, he teleports them both back to Naruto's apartment so they can rest from this bit of magic they preformed.

)**-o-**(

**Some Random Character in Sunnydale**

"Now then, where did you come from?" A young teen wonders and turns the box over to find that it is some kind of game that's entitled Adventures and Adversaries. "Sounds like some crappy rip off of Dungeon and Dragons."

_I wonder if I can get money for it?_ The high schooler wonders while resuming to walk down the street. It's getting close to night and so, she wants to hurry home before certain PCB gang begin to wander the night.

**-_)_ # So Ends Arc 2 #_(_-**


	43. Teaser

I don't own Dungeon & Dragons or Ouran High Host Club.

**- o 0 o -**

**Mischievous Imp**

Giggling insanely, she clenches a game she managed to get while visiting a certain town built upon a Hellmouth. She doubts that the Slayer and her gang will notice anything a miss concerning this game's disappearance. The chaos the game causes is so much fun to watch that she didn't want the game to be out of circulation for too long, although considering that the Slayer and her gang possess magic which would guide them straight to the game no matter where she drops it upon that world, she had to teleport out of that dimension, doubting that they would be able to recover the game if it's no longer sharing the same dimension.

Sure, she found herself teleported to some random location but as she looks around, she kind of liked what she saw. As soft cloth moving, she dodges behind one of the drapes and watches as a be-robed human sporting a cat puppet comes into view. She didn't even bother trying to hear what the human boy is saying, just by the teen's body language did she realize that he'll play the game.

With a little magic, she causes a noise to distract the human and dashes toward the table, dropping the game upon the table before vanishing into a demi-plane of shadows to watch the chaos the game will bring to the human's life.

)**-o-**(

**Nekozawa**

As he returns to the table while frowning, he spies that something is upon the table. "What's this?" He murmurs while picking up the box, it takes him a few seconds for the printing to become clear. "Adventures and Adversaries?"

Though he doesn't know where this game came from, he suddenly had an inspiring thought to share it with a certain club. "They do enjoy their role play if memory serves." He muses with a bemused smile upon his face.

Tucking the game under his arm, he heads out of his own club's space, heading for the Ouran High Host Club. These kind of games are much more fun with a larger cast of characters, which sadly, the Black Magic Club doesn't sport.

)**-o-**(

**Haruhi**

He couldn't help but start at Tamaki-Sempi, who's panicking over the fact that somebody made a slight change to Tamaki's character sheet making Tamaki a woman instead of a man. Not that Tamaki is the only one to go through a gender shift either, after all the character he created is a male, although originally the character had been a dwarf but with Tamaki grabbing and making a slight altercation he decided to make the most of it and in his history told how he had been cursed into the form of a Minotaur by some Dwarf hating Wizard.

_Let's see, who also had their sheet altered before we placed the figurines onto the playing field?_ With a sigh, he glances over at Kyoya, guessing that the Shadow King of the Host Club had likely made the change, likely to get back at Tamaki for making him into a Werebear instead of allowing Kyoya's race to remain that of a Moon Elf. "Kyoya-Sempi, was it really necessary to alter his gender like that?"

"Ah, lighten up, Haruhi!" "Ya!" "It sure suits the boss to be a Queen instead of a King considering how he usually acts." The twins remark, their characters are half bothers, same mother just different fathers. Hikaru is playing a Half-Sun Elf and Kaoru is playing a Half-Drow, their respective professions are Druid and Wizard.

"I believe we might want to prepare for incoming hostiles." Mori states, causing respective members of the party who are busy throwing up a fuss to pause. Nekozawa's familiar, a spectral tiger named Belzeneff growls in agreement with Mori while causes Nekozawa to reach for a dagger while he finally begins to glance around, noting the various changes done to Honey and Mori too.

Readying the two-handed mace, its the most well made equipment that he sports. "Just what's coming in?" Tamaki asks while the current ex-teenage boy current woman wonders with a long sword in hand.

"Them!" Cries Hikaru and he turns to engage the incoming squad of five ghouls with a skeleton archer. With a war cry, he's charging into their ranks just a few seconds behind Honey but ahead of Kyoya and Tamaki. It takes a few minutes before the others take to flinging spells in for support, although Mori fires arrow into the ranks before enter into the fray, helping Tamaki kill a ghoul.

"Ok, that was draining." Say Hikaru while those with blood on their swords use leaves to wipe off the blood. "Shouldn't we be looting them?" Wonders the Druid and almost as one, everyone looks at the dead ghouls and the single skeleton.

"They don't really have cloths to go through, do they?" Muses Kyoya while he gets up and walks over the nearest corpse. Frowning as an unsettling idea sprouts within his mind, he picks up one of the ghouls and rips the head off before upturning the body. Coins sluggishly fall out before the body seems to fade rather quickly.

It wasn't long before a few of the others mimic his success. As the last of the ghouls and the single skeleton vanish, they are ready to move on.

Recap

Haruhi - wanted to be male Dwarf, plays a male Dwarf cursed to be a male Minotaur, class is Paladin  
Tamaki - wanted to be a male Sun Elf, plays a female Sun Elf, class is Bard  
Kyoya - wanted to be a male Moon Elf, plays a Werebear, classes are Rogue and Fighter  
Hikaru - switched character sheets with Kaoru before filling out equipment, plays a Half-Elf, class is Druid  
Kaoru - switched character sheets with Hikaru before filling out equipment, plays a Half-Drow, class is Wizard  
Honey - plays a Halfling, class is Fighter, owns a pet rabbit named Usa-chan  
Mori - plays an Aasimar, class is Ranger  
Nekozawa - plays a Shadar-kai, class is Sorcerer, familiar is a spectral tiger named Belzeneff

**- o 0 o -**

I don't own Dungeon & Dragons or Temeraire.

**- o 0 o -**

**Temeraire**

A simple wooden box sporting a group of people welding swords and a staff battling strange green creatures. "Emily, do you know where this came from?" He asks upon spotting the daughter of Jane Roland looking down into the ocean.

The young human approaches and crouches down to study the box. "I am rather sorry, Temeraire but I do not. Although, it does look rather interesting doesn't it? Adventures and Adversaries." Emily says while taking off the lid.

"It appears to be a game, but I have not hear of one like it before." Emily adds after picking up a leather book sporting a title in metallic ink. He liked the book already and as Emily move, it gives him a better view of the next book in the wooden box.

"Oh, it's a game of fantasy! It's even got dragons in it, although they're breeds don't seem to be as varied as they are in real life..." Emily says out loud and he blinks in surprise.

"Oh? What kind of breeds are there?" He asks the young human.

Emily hums after flipping through the book. "Well, this book doesn't sport a lot of details about the individual races but there seems to be a few categories for the race with the two main branches are chaotic and metallic. Those of the metallic sport scales made out of the metal they're named for, a Gold Dragons' scales possess some gold in them, Silver Dragons' scales possess some silver, so on and so forth. Oh! That is odd, they all possess a special kind of breath." Emily says, rather surprised.

"Is there a book that possess more details about these dragons, Emily?" He asks and after at least three other books does Emily hold the book that goes into detail about the various races of this role play game. He is rather eager to hear more about these fictional dragons and it wasn't long before he has Emily reading passages out loud, although he typically has his captain do so but as Emily is here and Laurence isn't, he settles upon listening to Emily read the information.

_The chaotic branch don't sound very nice. Although, it doesn't sound as though the metallic branch are as good as they profess themselves to be._ He thinks, although it does sound as though these fictional cousins of his not only hire themselves out but are capable of hiring others for their services, although from the sounds of it, the chaotic branch mostly informs the other races what they must do in order to keep from getting a visit from that particular dragon. _They're seem to be tyrants in reality._

Once they reach the last of the section on dragons does Emily flip to the very front. Peter Dyer appears and asks, "Whatever are you reading, Emily?" The boy moves to take a look at another of the books, "A Guide to Dungeon Crawls?"

"I found it upon the deck and asked Emily if she knew where it came from. She did not know but upon investigation, we now know it to be some game where you create a fictional character, although we do not know how you do so." He says and senses more then sees Emily nodding her head in agreement.

Dyer hums and pulls the box away from Emily before taking out a few other things, which appear to be a mat, a pencil, a strange pad of paper, a thin book, and some metal figurines, towers, and keeps. The dice they needed rolled out of one of the buildings. Emily picks up the pad of paper and reads from it.

"It is good to know they have it arranged for easy creation." He muses, rather delighted at the idea of giving this game a go as it doesn't seem so difficult. "Although, what do they mean by class?"

"It is likely in the book entitled Player's Handbook." Dyer says, picking up that particular volume. Emily is going through the thin booklet while Dyer begins to read through the Player's Handbook.

By the time afternoon has come, Lily and Maximus seem to be interested, even though they are still rather sick. With the help of Emily and Dyer, all three of them create a character. Lily picked for her race the Avariel, a type of winged elf and decided upon cleric as her class, likely wistfully thinking what it would be light to be cured in an instant upon discovery, something which he sympathizes with. In contrast, Maximus' character is a Dragonborn and the Regal Copper decided upon two classes, fighter and wizard, although why Maximus didn't want to go with battlemage he just didn't understand.

As for Emily and Dyer, Emily had decided upon an elven ranger and Dyer upon a dwarf bard. While he was still thinking about what to chose as a race, the two young cadets draw up a character sheet, for fun, for his captain. It is Emily who argued about making his captain a Silver Dragon but it was Dyer's idea to say that Laurence's character should be a human cursed to become a dragon during the day time and be a man during the night. He thought it a good idea and suggested that Laurence had been a rogue who tried to steal from a powerful sorcerer and was punished with the curse. Which is why they were questing, they were looking for the cure to the curse.

Before they pressed him to fill out more of his own sheet, they all decide to spice things up by adding a more detailed history for each of the already made characters. By the time that was done, he knew what race he wanted and so his race got filled in as Aaimar, a race of celestial blooded humans, he thought it a good touched considering his breed and for class, he picked that of a druid as they are able to learn to shape-shift themselves into other forms, a kind of fictional fulfillment of an old desire.

Laurence did appear after Emily finishes writing a few things upon the back of the mat, mostly details of the fictional world they wish to quest in. "I see that you have been busy." His captain says before frowning at the top of the box.

"Temeraire found the box and it seems to be a kind of game of pretend." Dyer says, offering the character sheet they made of Laurence. "We were about to begin on Temeraire's character sheet once more." The cadet adds.

"I have decided to play an Aasimar druid. They are capable of shape-shifting into anything they chose, once they get to a high enough level that is." He tells his captain.

"Well, I had came to see what kept you two from lunch. While I'm slightly disappointed to find you to be busy with a game, I hope you will be able to attend dinner." Laurence says and he feels rather guilty about occupying the two cadets' time.

Laurence studies the two sheets before handing them back to Dyer. "I am sorry to have kept you from your lunch." He says but neither of the two would hear of it and it wasn't long before everything is filled out to his satisfaction, although they did have to add some more history to Laurence's character so that it includes Laurence's and his own characters' friendship from childhood into adulthood.

As the sheets are placed under one of the heavier volumes, Emily places the metal figurines upon the mat and then, everything seems to shift out of focus until he kind of falls to the ground. "Where are we?" Cries Emily and he glances up to find a winged woman sounding like a mature Emily Roland standing there.

"I believe I am more concerned as to why I appear to be a dragon." A voice sounds and upon standing up, he turns to regard the dragon sporting silver scales. "Laurence?"

The dragon blinks and looks down at him, while Lily and Maximus also get up off the ground. "Temeraire? Is that you?" The rather huge metal scaled dragon asks before glancing at each of the others.

Although, before anyone could say anything more, they find themselves under attack by metal animals. When he hastes for a second when one of the animated metal things come charging at him, its as though something gently pushes him aside and his body seemingly reacts to the incoming attack by slamming staff into the seemingly alien construct while Dyer seems to be singing a battle song. Maximus is fending off at least three of the metal animals using the rather large axe.

Laurence the dragon takes to the air, trying to dislodge the number of animated constructs off of his massive body. There become times when he would pause and cast healing spells when Lily seems to be busy on evading her own attackers. Slowly they turn the tide of battle, particularly when Laurence lands upon a massing of the metal creatures, destroying them rather easily.

As the last of the constructs are downed and don't move to get up, he finds himself once more in control of his own body and dazed about what happened. "Did anyone else...?" He couldn't find the words to describe what happened but it seems that they all had experienced that.

None of them really knew what to say, although he did wonder if the metal bodies would be difficult to fit in his bag of holding. After all, the metal bodies could always be melted down and turned into something else. Although that would likely be after they crack them open to see if they will find coins within their metal bodies.

Recap

Emily - Elf Ranger  
Dyer - Dwarf Bard  
Laruence - human cursed to be a Silver Dragon during the day, is a Rogue  
Lily - Avariel Cleric  
Maximus - Dragonborn Fighter/Wizard  
Temeraire - Aasimar Druid

**- o 0 o -**

I don't own Digimon or Dungeon & Dragons.

**- o 0 o -**

**Rika**

"Just where did you find this game again?" She asks a certain Digimon turn dwarf, not particularly caring that she's in her hybrid form. Henry seems to be tapping his own foot while Takato seems to be busy rummaging through the bodies of the bandits they just killed with Renamon.

In the background, they can hear Guilmon try and craft a short song based off of the rather short fight with the low level humans. "Well? We're waiting." Henry states after a while.

"Ok, I just found it laying on the roof of the school. I don't know who dropped, as there was this noise that caused me to turn around and when I turned back, it was just laying there." The monk finally tells them. "It's true! On minute there was nothing and then it's there! It didn't look dangerous so I spent the rest of the afternoon going through the books within the box."

"I believe him. He wouldn't hold out on anything more at this point." The swordmage says after transforming into a human and she follows suit.

Terriermon looks rather relieved to be off the hook while they try to go over their options. "So, we're looking at spending who knows how long looking for the right dungeon to raid in order to find this Spring of Renewal and if I remember the few things Terriermon wrote on the back of the mat, we should be able to pull this off without anyone knowing we've gone missing as every minute that ticks by outside of this world equals half a year in this world." Henry who's race is Werewolverine along with his class being a swordmage.

"And considering half the group are werecreatures, unless silver is involve in injuring us, we will recover from any damage we sustain during our stay in this world." Henry glances over at Takato before adding, "Considering the abilities of some lizards, at least one of us might be a little quicker in recovering then others."

"Do we have to worry about him overheating or getting chilly? Reptiles are rather cold blooded." She remarks, although finding it some comfort that they weren't scattered about this strange world.

"I believe he shouldn't have that problem, he is part human. Although, I guess people will take him for one of the Lizardfolk that inhabit this world." Henry says. "This is going to be rather difficult as we lack a ranger. They're very good at navigating through nature, although Takato should be an able guide, once he learns how to commune with primal spirits on our behalf..."

She murmurs a prayer to her chosen god, Shaundakkul to help guide their steps while Takato walks over carrying his staff. "I got two more water skins for us to use." The shaman of the group says.

"Did you really have to stripe them naked?" Terriermon wonders causing her to look over to the bodies only to watch as they kind of fade away. "Does anyone else find that strange? Them vanishing like that?"

"Maybe the higher the level they are, the longer their bodies remain in this world? As long as dead animals don't follow that pattern, we should be fine." Henry says and the third were of the party remains in his hybrid form.

"So, should we follow their tracks a bit and hope they were riding camels?" The werelizard asks, cocking his head kind of cutely to the side, reminding her of a bird. Then she groans at the thought of finding Takato to be cute. _This is messing with our heads, isn't it?_ She thinks as she heads over to check and see if Renamon found any extra food while looting the bandits.

Recap

Takato - Shaman Werelizard  
Guilmon - Bard Satyr  
Henry - Swordmage Werewolverine  
Terriermon - Monk Dwarf  
Rika - Invoker Weredhole  
Renamon - Rogue Celadrin

**-_)_ # So Ends The Teaser #_(_-**


End file.
